Spiritual Growth

One of my favorite traditions of the Christmas season is to get out all of the decorations and put up the Christmas tree. I drag up all the boxes from the basement, assemble the Christmas tree, gently unwrap each ornament and hang it on a branch–all while listening to my favorite Christmas CDs. One year while I was wrapping lights around the tree, one little lyric from the beloved carol,…

What does it mean to listen to your life? At the beginning of 2022, I chose the word “listen” to guide my year. (You can find out more about choosing a word for your year here.) During this year I have tried to become a…

What does it mean to flourish? How can we flourish in our daily lives? in our spiritual lives? in our messy lives? These are the questions that I endeavored to answer during 2021. I chose the word flourish to guide my time with God and…

Christmas is a joyous season, but for some it doesn’t feel that way. I understand. Some of the most painful events in my life happened in the month of December. The two miscarriages I experienced both happened in that month. My father died on December…

This holy season we are examining the characters of Christmas. Last week we looked at Elizabeth. (Click here to read her story.) This week we will look at Mary. Mary’s story is so familiar to us. Every Advent season we hear the story of the…

John Milton said,  Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to experience everyday epiphanies. Gratitude changes me. Thankfulness helps me remember that everything I have is from God. He gives the gifts of faith, love, and even a sunny day in November. Gratitude definitely inspires reverence. Milton…

What serendipity! One of my best friends has written a lovely book on friendship. Afton and I met about ten years ago in a writers group where we all read each others’ work and offered praise and suggestions. As a newbie working on my very…

“Should we watch another?’ my sister asked. When I spent a weekend with my sister in her Tucson home, we passed some time on her new reclining sofa in front of the TV. Although we walked at a botanical garden and hiked in a national…

Good-bye 2020! Hello 2021! 2020 certainly had its challenges and we all hope for a better year ahead, but before we leave it behind, it helps to take stock of time past. So, let’s look at the top 10 posts of 2020. If you missed…