Star-fish

      I don't know about you, but when I turn the television off after it has blatted on much of the morning, my shoulders relax and my mind settles down. Why I don't turn it off sooner is often not my choice, my husband is a big TV fan and has been since his youth. He was an only child and just today noted that with their many moves while he was growing up, it often became difficult to make friends so he watched a lot of TV.      Television can be comforting when you are at home alone with not much to do. My husband and I were discussing what households must have looked like when illness struck before television and radio existed. What did they do all day?      I can actually answer that for myself, if there are not electronics on, I am much more productive. I am much more creative and more energized. Why? It's easier to stay focused on the task at hand, my mind can stay on one thing and not wander to what other's are talking about...

     I found an empty prayer journal at a Goodwill store a few years back and it's timely messages continue to encourage me. The Pray! Prayer Journal by Dean Ridings (2003 NavPress) contributing authors, Lani Hinkle and Sandra Higley ( Pray! , issue 27, p. 51) offer the following for dealing with tragic times: In All Circumstances-Praying during times of tragedy can be difficult. Sometimes we just don't know how to pray. And that's when we take comfort that the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf "with groans that words cannot express" (Romans 8:26). How might we thank God during difficult times?  We can thank God that the enemy has made a tactical error, since God will use for good what Satan has intended for harm (Genesis 50:20-21). Thank Him for the people who will be drawn to seek God's face because the overwhelming nature of the tragedy leaves them nowhere else to turn (John 2:1-9).  Thank God for a vivid reminder of your own mortality and vulnerability...

      I don't know about you, but COVID isolation has actually made it difficult for me to find quiet time, time to be still. I feel the need to accomplish things and keep moving for some reason, a restlessness that can't be quelled. Yet, frankly, I'm not all that productive on the priorities, because I'm mostly distracted by all the minutiae.      It may be because of all the chaos that seems to be flooding the world and the strangeness that is filling the airways i.e. television, internet, social media, etc. but as I sought the Lord to find a direction to go in with these feelings and influences, He reminded me of Psalm 46:8-9, where He said, "Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire." He allows these things to happen and He shuts them down when He's ready, for His purposes and for His glory. ...

      My friends can tell you that I am not shy about glitter. I love glitter on just about anything, except when it gets loose and runs rampant around my home! It's a wonderful time of year to hear from friends and many send Christmas cards with loads of glitter on them, beautiful, right? Yes, and no...all that glitters is not gold, when it's on my face, clothes, hair, etc., but not there intentionally.      An article about glitter being bad for the environment on insider.com (March 25, 2019), made me rethink my allure of the razzle-dazzle. I had seen something on television about glitter as well and that once it is washed down the drain, the tiny plastic particles get into our water and the ocean and cause chaos with human and animal digestive and hormonal systems. Crazy, right?!     How many things do we love, that catch our eye and draw our attention, are a lot like glitter? They are sparkly and new, fascinating and intriguing, but once ...

      What makes you significant, special, and capable? Have you created the person you have become? Or has God? Whose image are you made in? Your own? Or God's? Are you self-made, self-reliant, and self-disciplined? Or self-deprecating, self-loathing, and self-doubting? What does your "self" do for you? Would others say you have become your best self?      What does it mean to be one made in God's image? Genesis 1:26-27 (ESV) explains it this way, "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he create him; male and female he created them." It means we are not self-made, but God-made.      What keeps us from becoming God-like? In 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 (ESV) one culprit is identifie...

      I don't know about you, but some of these COVID-19 days seem to drag on forever! But, that being said, I'm looking at a quote on my office wall from Abraham Lincoln that notes, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be." Happiness is a choice, but I often make that choice based upon my thoughts, feelings, and circumstances. So then happiness gets clouded by circumstances (COVID-19 for example) and it rains on my parade with no umbrella in sight.      So how do we, as emotional beings, find the rainbows in our gray days? As Christians, indwelled by the Holy Spirit of God, we aren't necessarily called to be happy, rather we are called to have joy. What's the difference between being happy or being joyful? Dictionary.com gives the following definition for being happy: characterized by or indicative of pleasure, contentment, or joy. The definition for joy on this same website is: the emotion of great delight or happiness ...

      I was waiting in the parking lot for my husband as he had a doctor's appointment. Due to our new puppy being only eleven weeks old, we don't leave her home alone. As I walked her around the building a young man walked by and commented on how cute she was and that she still had "puppy breath." He noted he also had many types of animals at home and listed off several species. I wondered later, if "puppy breath" was a real thing. To me, her breath didn't smell all that different from the older dogs I've had in the past. But, he seemed to be the animal expert between us, so I took his word on the matter, (at least for that moment).      Having a need to know more can be a curse and a blessing for me, sometimes knowing more leads to interesting insights, other times it becomes a rabbit hole to follow which leads to wasting a lot of time! Of course, I had to research whether "puppy breath" was a real thing or not, and sure enough my farm bo...