Near the dawn of the nineteenth century Mary McDowell lived worlds apart from the brutal stockyards of Chicago Although her home was just twenty miles away she knew little about the horrific labor conditions that prompted workers in the stockyards to strike Once she learned of the difficulties faced by them and their families McDowell moved in and lived amid them mdash advocating for better conditions She ministered to their needs including teaching children at a school in the back of a small shop Standing up for better conditions for others mdash even when not directly impacted mdash is something [... more]

I felt my heartrate increase as I opened my mouth to refute the charges a dear friend was leveling against me What I had posted online had nothing to do with her as she implied But before I replied I whispered a prayer I then calmed down and heard what she was saying and the hurt behind her words It was clear that this went further than the surface My friend was hurting and my need to defend myself dissolved as I chose to help her address her pain During this conversation I learned what James meant in today rsquo [... more]

During my morning walk the sun hit the waters of Lake Michigan at a perfect angle to produce a stunning view I asked my friend to stop and wait for me as I positioned my camera to take a pic Because of the position of the sun I couldn rsquo t see the image on my phone rsquo s screen before I snapped the shot But having done this before I sensed it would be a great picture I told me friend ldquo We can rsquo t see it now but pictures like this always come out good rdquo Walking [... more]

A few weeks after the death of a dear friend I spoke with her mom I was hesitant to ask how she was doing because I thought it was an inappropriate question she was grieving But I pushed aside my reluctance and simply asked how she was holding up Her reply ldquo Listen I choose joy rdquo Her words ministered to me that day as I struggled to push beyond some unpleasant circumstances in my own life And her words also reminded me of Moses rsquo edict to the Israelites at the end of Deuteronomy Just before Moses rsquo death [... more]

As the mask mandate requirements during the pandemic loosened I struggled to remember to keep a mask handy for where they were still required mdash like my daughter rsquo s school One day when I needed a mask I found just one in my car the one I avoided wearing because it had ldquo BLESSED rdquo written across the front I prefer to wear masks without messages and I believe that the word on the mask I found is overused But I had no choice so I reluctantly put the mask on And when I nearly showed my annoyance with [... more]

Moving from one home to another ranks as one of the biggest stressors in life We moved to our current home after I rsquo d lived in my previous one for nearly twenty years I rsquo d lived alone in that first home for eight years before I got married Then my husband moved in along with all his things Later we added a child and that meant even more stuff Our moving day to the new house wasn rsquo t without incident Five minutes before the movers arrived I was still finishing up a book manuscript And the new [... more]

While preparing a meal a young mother cut a pot roast in half before she put it in a large pot Her husband asked her why she cut the meat in half She replied ldquo Because that rsquo s the way my mother does it rdquo Her husband rsquo s question however piqued the woman rsquo s curiosity So she asked her mother about the tradition She was shocked to learn that her mother cut the meat so it would fit in the one small pot she used And because her daughter had many large pots the act of cutting [... more]

When we park our car near an open field and walk across it to get to our house we almost always get some sticky cockleburs on our clothes mdash especially in the fall These tiny ldquo hitchhikers rdquo attach to clothing shoes or whatever is passing by and ride to their next destination It rsquo s nature rsquo s way of spreading cocklebur seeds in my local field and around the world As I try to carefully remove clinging cockleburs I rsquo ve often thought about the message that admonishes believers in Jesus to ldquo cling to what is good [... more]