Driving through my neighborhood, I’m always a little surprised at how early the fascination with the creepy and macabre begins. Reapers, witches, graveyards, and ten-foot skeletons pop up in yards long before the leaves even start to change. I understand that many people enjoy decorating for...
“Sweetheart, I need you to talk to me.” My husband requests as he stares out the window at the dark road before him. Out of words and ready to rest, I reply, “What do you want me to say?” “Anything! I need you to keep me awake,”...
My friend's face conveyed shock and hurt. The careless, harsh comment I tossed her direction landed like a grenade in the middle of our friendly lunch. Justification was futile. The damage was already done. The shrapnel from my words cut right through to my friend's heart. ~~~ I threw open...
"Lord, give us clarity and direction for the next step. We want more of you and less of us." Sitting silently around the kitchen table, Cari and I wait for an answer. This prayer is uttered from our mouths regularly, as our hearts yearn to only go...
Dashing across the parking lot, I ran into the building and slid into the room just as things were starting. Having risen early after a week of busy days and late nights, I had arrived at a local children's mission to volunteer for the day. If I'm honest, I...
Feet trudging through the snowy slush, I made my way to the mailbox across the street. Newly married, living twelve hours from home with new jobs, my husband and I were also enduring the hardest winter in New England in thirty years. I was surrounded by...
"The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing," my husband quoted Psalm 23 as he dragged his tired body off the mattress. Up in the middle of the night for the third time to care for our sick son, he whispered as he trudged across the...
“I used to be fun." I remember saying this to a friend years ago. Caught in the everyday tasks of caring for young children, I felt bogged down by responsibility and incapable of having - or spreading - joy. Feeling like I was drowning in laundry,...
"I know you're juggling a lot, but Rosemary, it's okay to let some of the balls drop." My hands trembled and my eyes began to water as my friend of twenty-plus years continued. "Take care of the glass balls, like your kids, spouse, and work, but let...