Did you do your final check in the mirror today, making sure everything was just so? Did you find yourself murmuring that eternal question of comparison: Mirror, mirror on the wall. . . How about your heart? Did you remember to do a beauty check on that, too? That’s where we say beauty […]
Living in the In-Between
July 22, 2013 By 39 Comments
Last night we learned my nephew has a brain tumor. This morning I stand on my porch, birdsong welcoming the day as though nothing has changed, the whisper-soft breeze carrying muted sounds of distant lives. Such a dramatic change from last night, when booming thunder struck a match, setting off a brilliant lightning […]
Honesty: What’s love got to do with it?
April 1, 2013 By 21 Comments
Honesty has fallen so far out of favor in our culture that it sits lower than a young rapper’s jeans on his skinny frame. Too many people now believe it is for fools who aren’t enlightened enough to understand the many nuances of truth, rubes who are too ethical to understand the devastating potential it […]
Chance the rapids and dance the tide
March 25, 2013 By 31 Comments
Holley Gerth has asked us dreamers for a glimpse into our typical day, and how we see God’s hand in the small and ordinary. Come on in, have some coffee and cookies, and join us! I tend to put my happy glasses on in the morning and view the world through them most every […]
A must-have decision making tool
March 18, 2013 By 29 Comments
My basic principle is that you don’t make decisions because they are easy; you don’t make them because they are cheap; you don’t make them because they are popular; you make them because they’re right. ~Theodore Hesburgh It’s the same old refrain. You have a big decision to make and you just don’t know […]
Gratitude, shmatitude.Just let me enjoy my pumpkin pie in peace.
November 19, 2012 By 39 Comments
What’s that, you say? You’re tired of hearing about gratitude? Truth be told, so am I. I know that’s a surprise, coming from Miss Too Darn Happy, perennial practitioner and encourager of gratitude. I actually get a smidge annoyed in November at the volley of articles peppering me to be thankful. Don’t get me wrong. […]
A parable of finite love
October 1, 2012 By 24 Comments
There once was a widow who believed each person had a finite amount of love to share. She had a son who adored her, who had moved in with her so she wouldn’t be alone. One day, when this caring man had passed his fortieth birthday, he met a woman who swept his heart away. […]
5 Secret Paths to the Heart of Your Family
August 13, 2012 By 24 Comments
Have you showered your family with expressions of your love, only to be left gasping in surprise after they’ve responded with an upended bucket of cold water? Welcome home, honey! I did the laundry, cleaned the house, and we’re having your favorite dinner. Go sit and relax for a bit, and I’ll hold the kids […]
When there’s a fork in the road, eat croissants
July 9, 2012 By 50 Comments
Don’t you just delight in the sweet, sweet taste of summer family vacations, where joy and laughter are generously slathered over every moment of the day and sprinkled with children playing happily together, their delightful voices adding perfectly delectable notes to each and every deeply satisfying day? What’s that? Are you saying that […]
10 Lessons in happiness from a yard sale
June 18, 2012 By 39 Comments
Have you ever thought that your idea of happiness would be to spend a week’s vacation preparing for and holding a yard sale? That you would be just beside yourself with delight at digging through boxes that hold years of foolish purchases, projects you were going to do, and clothes you bought and never wore? […]
