One of my favorite holiday traditions is to make myself a hot cup of tea, turn on the Christmas lights, sit at my beloved piano, and play Christmas music. It is such mental and spiritual therapy for me as I flip through pages and play some of my favorites from memory. One of my favoriteContinue reading “All The Wonder, None of the Worry”
Category Archives: Sermon On The Mount
Keeping Secrets
Most of us are keeping some type of secret this time of year. We hide boxes in closets or pray that Amazon delivers while loved ones are not at home. We conspire by text and phone about surprise gifts and visits. One of my favorite memories is my years of participating in a Secret SantaContinue reading “Keeping Secrets”
Love Who?
If you are following my blog, you may continue to note that I am writing less frequently in this series on the Sermon on the Mount. It is taking longer to get quiet and digest what the words of Christ mean in my life. I am being challenged more and more to live out myContinue reading “Love Who?”
The Extra Mile
Most of us know about the two-edged sword a credit card can be. They are great for emergencies or accumulating points towards airline miles or gift cards. Credit cards are often safer to use in the digital world because fraud can be a problem with online shopping. Then there is the sharper side that plasticContinue reading “The Extra Mile”
Broken Promises
At some point, all of us have either crossed our hearts or performed a pinky swear over issues that seemed foundational to our peace of mind at tender young ages. Most have sworn allegiance to secret clubs in treehouses or make-do forts. I can still recite my brownie and Girl Scout pledges. We learned earlyContinue reading “Broken Promises”
The Real Cost of Window Shopping
I don’t usually use the translation of the Message for the scripture I reflect on, but I felt this particular passage conveyed the words of Christ well for the 21st-century mindset. These words get right to the spirit of the uncommon word in our time…”Lust.” In the original text, Jesus addresses the sin of adulteryContinue reading “The Real Cost of Window Shopping”
Making The Grade
Over the last few years, I have made several transitions, and we can all agree, especially with the pandemic, who did not? This particular series came out of several dry places in my devotional life. God revealed to me that though I spend a fair amount of time in the scriptures, I needed to spendContinue reading “Making The Grade”
Lightning Bugs
One of my most treasured memories from childhood summers is waiting until dusk, when lightning bugs began to appear. Some people call them by the more elegant title of fireflies but in our family culture, we call them lightning bugs. My grandmother would hunt me up an old mason jar (one that was past itsContinue reading “Lightning Bugs”
Please Pass the Salt
Last year about this time, Jim and I made a visit to the ER, and as a result, Jim was hospitalized for a few days. He experienced an episode of Atrial fibrillation. If you are unfamiliar with this, it is where the heart develops an arrhythmia. The doctors tried a few types of medicine, butContinue reading “Please Pass the Salt”
Happy or Blest?
Recently while doing some genealogy research, I came across the information that Finland, for the 6th year in a row, was identified as the happiest nation in the world. Since I am 50% Finnish, I decided to go down the rabbit hole and see what lies behind this claim of” happiness.” Some of the reasonsContinue reading “Happy or Blest?”
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