Startling how many options I no longer have time to become.

And with this simple act, my mother spoke volumes: I was important. What I wrote was valuable . . .

The pearls whisper their secret; these shiny creations produced to deal with debris inside the shells of their host . . .

I was resigned to the fact that my father’s almost 90-year-old-body was failing, but I wasn’t prepared for his mind to do the same.  

In Holy Week, one day is hardly addressed and almost seems an afterthought. Saturday the Sabbath, when Good Friday is over . . .

It’s been two years since my brother Doug died.

Even though I take wise precautions, I choose to live instead of worrying about dying.

We knew Mom was ready to die. She’d already lived longer than any of us would have predicted. We were prepared for her to go. But not like this.

For all those who feel crushed by life.

When I am anxious over my children because of their burdens and problems, it is not up to me to fix, to change or to “worry them” into health and peace . . .

OH GOD who gives peace in the midst of stress—

Instead of an endurance test with my Dad, I stole a scenario from the future and made a memory in the process…

By December, I can’t even remember what I so earnestly “resolved” on January 1.

Am I a grateful person? Do I easily praise God? Do I say thank you more than I ask?

Spray. Wipe. Dry. Repeat . . .

Maybe that’s why so many of us as parents and grandparents have a hard time throwing precious treasures away . . .

No one likes to wait. Especially when important decisions are on the line . . .

Isn’t this story just like our lives? Faced with an impossibility, we rail against God . . .

Has God appeared to “shut you out” or “shut you in” by difficult circumstances or hurtful realities? Do you feel adrift in pain or isolation as if abandoned by God? Look again at your story through the lens of grace . . .

They’re baaack! The grinning elves with their cheery red buckets. Every December they seem to multiply . . .