My sister brother and I flew from our separate states to our uncle rsquo s funeral and stopped to see our ninety-year-old grandmother She rsquo d been paralyzed by a stroke had lost the ability to speak and had only the use of her right hand As we stood around her bed she reached out that hand and took each of our hands placing one atop another over her heart and patted them in place With this wordless gesture my grandmother spoke into what had been our somewhat broken and distant sibling relationship ldquo Family matters rdquo In God rsquo [... more]

She loaded the plastic container of cupcakes onto the conveyor belt sending it toward the cashier Next came the birthday card and various bags of chips Hair escaped from her ponytail crowning her fatigued forehead Her toddler clamored for attention The clerk announced the total and the mom rsquo s face fell ldquo Oh I guess I rsquo ll have to put something back But these are for her party rdquo she sighed glancing regretfully at her child Standing behind her in line another customer felt this mother rsquo s pain Then Jesus rsquo words to Mary of Bethany echoed [... more]

Hand in hand my grandson and I skipped across the parking lot to find a special back-to-school outfit A preschooler now he was excited about everything and I was determined to ignite his happiness into joy I rsquo d just seen a coffee mug with the inscription ldquo Grandmas are moms with lots of frosting rdquo Frosting equals fun glitter joy My job description as his grandma right That and more In his second letter to his spiritual son Timothy Paul calls out his sincere faith mdash and then credits its lineage both to Timothy rsquo s grandmother Lois and [... more]

Decades ago Dr Jerry Motto discovered the power of a ldquo caring letter rdquo His research found that simply sending a letter expressing care to discharged patients who had previously attempted suicide reduced the rate of recurrence by half Recently health care providers have rediscovered this power when sending ldquo caring rdquo texts postcards and even social media memes as follow-up treatment for the severely depressed nbsp Twenty-one ldquo books rdquo in the Bible are actually letters mdash epistles mdash caringly written to first-century believers who struggled for a variety of reasons Paul James and John wrote letters to explain [... more]

The gravelly-voiced captain announced yet another delay Crammed in my window seat aboard a plane that had already sat unmoving for two hours I chafed in frustration After a long workweek away I longed for the comfort and rest of home How much longer As I gazed out the raindrop-covered window I noticed a lonely triangle of green grass growing in the gap of cement where runways met Such an odd sight in the middle of all that concrete As an experienced shepherd David knew well the need to provide the rest of green pastures for his sheep In Psalm [... more]

My grandson ran to the roller coaster line and stood with his back against the height-requirement sign to see if he was big enough to ride He squealed with joy when his head exceeded the mark So much of life is about being ldquo big rdquo enough isn rsquo t it To move from car seat to seatbelt and from the back seat to the front To take a driver rsquo s test To vote To get married Like my grandson we can spend our lives longing to grow up In New Testament times children were loved but not highly [... more]