In Part 1, I mentioned Job and his three friends who came to sit with him during his time of intense suffering and grief. For seven days and nights, they ministered to him with their presence. But soon, they began to offer Job their opinions on why he was experiencing these tragedies. I imagine that…
Recently I was asked to pray with a nursing home resident who was nearing the end of her life. Other than her name, the only thing that I knew about her before I arrived was that she was in her fifties though she looked like a much older woman, and that she had had a…
I’m convinced that most people today conflate the concept of manners and respect, and I do not believe that the two are the same. The Oxford online dictionary defines manners as “a person’s outward bearing or way of behaving toward others.” Think of it like saying “please” and “thank you,” “yes ma’am” or “no sir,”…
For Mother’s Day my husband took me to my grandparents’ farm. And when I say “farm,” I mean 110 acres that includes fields for growing crops, an old barn that used to house tobacco, woods where you can still see the old wagon trail if you look closely enough, and a creek that cuts through…
When I was a little girl, there was no question that my family would spend Easter weekend with my grandparents and attend Sunday church services with them. This also meant that my sister and I would wear frilly spring dresses and our patent leather white shoes. Some years I had dainty little gloves, a hat,…
I was asked to write a devotional for a ladies group–“Growing in 2024.” Here’s what I came up with. (Rather, here’s what I think God helped me write.) If you know me even a little, or if you’ve read much of my writing, you know I love trees. It’s difficult to pinpoint why I love…
I had coffee with a friend the morning after Christmas. “It just didn’t feel like Christmas this year,” she said. Many of her family members had been sick, and she was exhausted from working her new job and trying to take care of everyone. On my drive home, I started thinking, “What does Christmas feel…
I’ve been absent for a bit. Sorry about that. I had a long bout of a Covid-like virus in November and I’ve been scrambling to catch up ever since. I didn’t feel like writing anything until just recently, and now my brain is lighting up with ideas. Here’s the first one….. We just had a…
I recently enjoyed a much-needed vacation to Hilton Head Island. I was blessed to spend some time relaxing on the beach and bike-riding on the trails through the pine trees and live oaks. The beach was fairly empty, with only a handful of people setting up their chairs and umbrellas each day. At times it…
My daughter is in the process of applying to vet schools. It’s a highly competitive field, and though there is currently a national shortage of veterinarians, there are only so many slots in each university’s program. Maybe because I was Riley’s teacher for so many years, I feel extremely responsible for her performance in college,…
Presidential hopefuls take the debate stage to brag about their accomplishments and bluster about the incompetencies of their opponents. At the same time, a frail elderly woman lies in bed waiting for hours for someone to come change her and clean her up; no one asks her about her accomplishments in her life before age…