After doing this the previous January at our retreat, I wanted to single out a word for 2020.  I had a word in mind and, with the encouragement of a friend, began to think and pray about it.  I don’t even remember what my original word was, but I had a clear sense that God wanted me to select a different word…“perspective”.  So I went with it.  Little did I know how appropriate that word would be for the year ahead! 

After much anticipation (tbh, beginning as soon as I dropped her off), my college daughter was coming home for the semester break and it was hard to wait.  I was looking forward to her company and her hugs.  I was looking forward to her stories, her laughter, her cooking, and even to the mess that comes with hauling all the “necessities” back from campus. When any of the kids come home it’s my little slice of happiness during these crazy times.

Have you ever gone into the store for one thing and come out with something completely different?  You go in for clothes and come out with a new set of dishes (relax, they were on clearance).  Or you make a quick stop for milk and come out with 4 half-gallons of ice cream?  This happens to me all the time, and not just at Target.  In my defense, some of the things I have purchased this way have become favorites. 

“Mom, I want to study abroad next semester.” Sounds innocent enough, right?  But she had something specific in mind.  As I write this, my daughter is enjoying a semester abroad…in Rwanda, Africa.  No, there was no talking her into a semester in Europe.  So my husband and I prayed.  We prayed about whether we should […]

As Christian parents, we know our children ultimately belong to the Lord and we are only given them for a little while.  Easy to say, right?  But doesn’t it create the most important balancing act of our lives?  That tension between doing too little and holding on too tightly?  When my three kiddos were young, they knew Mom and Dad would consider each situation regardless of what “all the other kids” were doing.  They thought I worried too much.  And maybe I did. 

How often are we so distracted by the “extras” on the sandwich of our life that we forget the main thing?  I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, a neighbor, an office manager, a stranger to passers-by, and the list goes on.  Each of these roles brings its own set of responsibilities and expectations.