At first his eyes were wide with fright as he hid behind our little hinny, a cross between a male horse and a female donkey. His odd head and tail confused me when he first showed up in our pasture. His owner retrieved him multiple times, but finally just gave up since this odd-looking animal had claimed our hinny and her pasture as his home.
Wow! I guess it’s not a weed!
I’d sprayed it, trimmed it with scissors, even mowed it multiple times…yet it persevered. Regardless of how I mistreated it, this intruder sent tendrils upward, outward and onward while it clung to the bank of the pond. Now, in a different season of the year, an abundance of tiny pink blossoms brought delight to that same muddy shoreline.
I could hear Mother’s soft giggle at Aunt Annie’s small country funeral as the soloist sang, “In the Garden.” Mother’s dementia had claimed her speech, so her giggle blessed me. Then, when her alto voice joined in on the chorus, my heart overflowed! As Daddy patted her leg and told her to stop singing, I whispered, “Aunt Annie would love this. Let’s let her sing.” And did she sing—all four choruses! That was the last time I heard my mother speak. It’s now a treasured memory of her praising His name.
“Oh no, that baby turtle is way out in the middle,” I cried. “It should swim closer to shore where the water is shallow!” My granddaughter and I watched that hatchling paddle onward toward the deeper water. I feared for the little turtle until I realized, “No turtle ever worries about how deep the water is!” God designs turtles to swim, and this baby swam toward the deep water with confidence.
If you’re like me, you want desperately to pass your faith onto your children.
Yet sometimes we wonder if we’re getting through. Or are we only going through the motions. We hear God’s Word but choose what we want to obey.
I watched from the front row as the man lit himself on fire and danced around. Yes, he was a stunt performer doing this at a beachside show.
Yet I wondered what made him do it. Whatever the hotel paid him, I couldn’t imagine that it was enough to justify walking on fire.
I love spending time in nature because I can see God’s creations so much clearer.
As we approached these domes by jet ski, I thought these domes might be part of some ancient ruins. Turns out, their history doesn’t go back as far as I thought.
Luna was “ours” for about a month.
We found her meowing just outside our door.
This wasn’t the first time we’d seen Luna. Sometimes she would lay around our porch. She had a collar, and we knew she had a family — just down the street.
Wow! The children of Israel had made it through the Red Sea on their exodus out of slavery and Egypt. What a spiritual high!
What did they do in response? They trusted in God, they sang, and they praised him.
A popular affirmation parents use with their children these days goes like this, “Way to be a problem solver. Great job solving that problem yourself.” While one cannot debate the value of problem solving and thinking for oneself, God asked the Israelites to do just the opposite – let him solve their problem.
I found it troubling as I read through the book of Exodus how many times Pharaoh changed his mind about letting the Israelites go. I kept wondering why chapter after chapter.
Have you ever just flat out found yourself down in the dumps? I have.
That is exactly how the children of Israel felt in the early chapters of Exodus. Their unbearable circumstances of slavery led them to despondency.
“Shiphrah” and “Puah”, I stumble over the pronunciation of their names, but they, on the other hand, did not stumble when it came to obeying God. They stood firm.
Rahab the prostitute, seen in Joshua 2 and 6, is identified as a woman of faith in Hebrews 11:31. If Rahab were asked, “How would you define faith?” I think she might say something like this:
Faith comes from hearing about God and believing in Him. My people and I were told of how the God of Israel parted the Red Sea, delivering His people. We heard how Yahweh empowered His people to defeat mighty nations. When I heard these stories, I knew they were true. My faith was born. Later when two Israeli spies came to my door, I knew I had to act on my faith in God and protect them, even at risk to my own life. That’s what faith is. It’s acting upon your beliefs, it’s standing alone, and it’s moving forward as God leads, even when risks are involved. It’s being willing to lay down your life in order to follow the one true Lord.
My oldest daughter adopted a puppy a few weeks before her wedding. That puppy and I bonded during the weeks she stayed with us. When the newlyweds came back for their first visit, Darcy was beyond excited to see me. She ran around and around my feet, wrapping her retractable leash around my ankles. Before I could remove the leash, Darcy took off running, causing deep burns around both of my ankles. In time my ankles healed, but the scars remain. When I happen to focus on those scars, I think of “that day” and that dog.
The hospice nurse called. Mother was close to the end. In spite of Covid, I was allowed into the nursing home to be with her. My brother joined me, and for three days we sat with Mother. Initially, she responded with her eyes to our words, but soon, her eyes were set. She could hear us, but it seemed she saw nothing—until her final moments.
Day after day, week after week, year after year I went to the nursing home to visit my mother. We couldn’t carry on a conversation, because the affect of dementia left her unable to speak. For years, she was unable to walk; and eventually, she was unable to move anything except her head. Some days I knew Mother was “there.” I knew she understood me and wanted to respond, but her illness prevented communication.
My first semester of college was an adjustment—little time alone and constant interruptions while studying. I was forced to work late into the night, and I stayed awake by munching on crackers, granola bars, Twinkies… Before long my clothes became tight. Imagine! So, I turned to black coffee as my stimulant. Initially, the taste was bitter. After one or two sips, I put it down. The next time, I could endure three or four sips, and so on, until I grew to love black coffee. Today it’s one of my favorite things in life. What was offensive at first became increasingly enjoyable the more I was exposed to it.
No one said anything. They just pretended it didn’t happen.
My friend had suffered her second miscarriage in six months. Devastated, she felt her dreams of motherhood fading away.
