It was the week before Thanksgiving and we were anything but thankful. Everything that could go wrong had, it seemed. We were broke, deep in debt, stuck in a bad job, a thousand miles from home and expecting our second child at any time. Mother came out to help and together we cooked a turkey […]
Search Results for: thanksgiving
PRACTICING GRATITUDE: Grace Before Meals
Two-year-old Evie watched as the ladies at the next table started in on their salads, then kicked her legs to get their attention. “Aren’t you going to pray first?” she asked. After all, they had smiled and voiced their approval as she carefully touched her finger to her forehead, heart, and shoulders before we thanked […]
COME PRAISE AGAINST THE DARK!
The tune is 60’s-folk and more old-school than retro-cool. But it is embedded in my memory and comes to my rescue on days when I wake up under a load of problems and can’t see my way out. Personal problems are bad enough. But now it seems our government is being pulled apart and polarization […]
GOD IS GOOD — ALL THE TIME
Give thanks to the Lord, FOR he is good; FOR his steadfast love endures forever! That little word, “for,” is the reason I can have a thankful heart. I can be sick, or out of work, or lost, or without love. I can be in debt or up to my eyeballs in trouble. But always, […]
YES, JESUS CARES ABOUT THE LITTLE THINGS
Jesus has a way with words. More specifically, he has a way with simple questions that get right to the point. And sometimes they get personal. For example — “Why are you anxious about clothes?” he asked not long ago as I slammed my closet door. It’s been a long time since I read Matthew […]
ADVENT 1, YEARNING FOR PEACE – “O Holy Night”
If Saturday Night Live has the pulse of America, then all that’s needed to solve those painful, contentious, holiday family dinners is Adele’s new song, “Hello.” In the skit, Thanksgiving table conversation degenerates nearly to the point of blows – only to be saved when the little girl plays the song and everyone stops arguing […]
WHY PRAY, IF IT DOESN’T ALWAYS “WORK”?
(Traducción en español al final) I heard twice from a friend last week, big news about others: one, a mutual acquaintance who suffered years after an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, who then got cancer. His funeral this month was a testimony to his faith and the joy he found, in […]
THANKS-GIVING, THE DOOR TO HAPPY HOLIDAYS
An “emotional survival guide” for the holidays showed up on my facebook feed the other day, a sad reminder that not everyone has fun around the Christmas dinner table. Why is it that those we love have the most power to hurt us? People gather at the holidays, hoping for the best. Then out come […]
ROCKING AT THE WAILING WALL
I went recently to pray at the Western (“Wailing”) Wall in Jerusalem. It is a sacred place where Jews from around the world gather to pray, often leaving written prayers tucked in the spaces between the great stones. In contrast to the Temple Mount itself, which allows access to non-Muslims for only a few hours […]
REFLECTING ON THE 7 DEADLY SINS: GLUTTONY
They called it the MEATBALL DEATH STAR: 5 pounds of ground beef wrapped around a mixture of cheese tortellinis, sautéed sweet peppers and onions; a fluffy cloud of garlic mashed potatoes; a woven cloak of bacon, spaghetti sauce and grated cheese. Six teenagers gathered at my house and cooked the thing for a Saturday afternoon […]
