Pleasant Shelter
I've mentioned before how much I love my home. It's a simple place, and while it's set on an extraordinary (at least to my eyes) piece of property, there's nothing grandiose about it, at all. But it's more "us" than just about anyplace we've ever lived. Everywhere you look there is evidence of something or someone we love. It's a calming place where we can just "be." Last night, while I was soaking in a hot bath, I was reading a book a friend asked me to read. I only just started it, so I can't speak to the book as yet; however, I was stopped by a quote in the preface. If you are willing to bear serenely the trial of being displeasing to yourself, then you will be for Jesus a...
Really Me
Lilli and I had a FaceTime chat yesterday, while I was making dinner. She gets to watch the iPad while her own dinner is being made, so she really likes it when we can watch something together. We talk over my iPad while I put a show on my phone, turn the camera around to face it, and she can hear my voice while she watches the show. Where would we be without our electronics? About halfway through the show, Brody started to get a little antsy and decided to let everyone know about it. His sister was the least impressed in the room. "Come on, Mimmie. I'm taking you to my room!" Soon, we were in there, and she said "Gracious, it's dark in here! Let me turn on the light!" (We might be...
Crazy Glue
Sometimes you get really surprising news. I don't mean the totally devastating kind, for there are far worse things to be heard, but I don't mean the super exciting kind, either. You know, surprising. Knocks the wind out of you. Has you seeing stars for a minute. If you let it, though, it could crack the nice, solid surface of life. You could let fear take hold and, piece by piece, those cracks could break clean through and fall in a heap to the ground. You could let it become devastating if you didn't happen to have some crazy glue sitting next to you. Crazy glue that you immediately begin to apply to any small fissure. Crazy glue that fills every crack and crevice with its...
Fresh Wind
I watched as she, filled with unbridled enthusiasm, addressed a small group of people. It was astounding to me as just hours earlier she'd been so subdued and somber, this friend of mine. She wasn't putting on a show, though. This was real and exuberant, and I was curious. She'd been unhappy in her job for quite some time, I knew. She felt trapped there, as if she'd agreed to something that she thought would be okay but found out the hard way that it wasn't. There was no room for improvement. No possible way up and out from where she was, and even when seeking something different, she'd come up with dead end after dead end. But then...options. The news of possible freedom sooner...
In the Midst of the Many
Busy week coming up. B.U.S.Y. We have our biggest event of the year for the office this Friday, between a business session during the day, and an award dinner and 2014 Kickoff Party that night. It's a lot of work and a lot of details between handling the administrative part of the presentations, and being the party planner. In the midst of this, my friend, Mary, graciously offered the opportunity to join in her latest writing project to our mutual friend Karen, and me. It's a Bible Study on Authentic Friendship, and while Mary and Karen will be writing the study, I'm doing the companion devotional. It's an amazing gift to us, and we have been feverishly working to meet the...