Today is a good day. I wake up before dawn to head over to the gym and teach yoga. Summer has just begun and I’m off work for the next ten weeks; my new bootcamp class is growing and the bible study I’ve been hosting at my house has been encouraging. No controversies, no hardships. But how does it look when it’s not a good day?

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Meet Max. He’s a cool dog and everyone loves him. I appreciate that about him, he builds bridges where I probably could not. He makes everyone more comfortable when he’s around. He will bring you a tennis ball and play fetch or he will just sit next to you and take a nap. He’s just a great guy.

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I think I’ll give up on watching the news. It’s just too hard. There is war and sickness, violence, fear and hate on display in high-definition, wide-screen color. It’s devastating. As a child of God, my response to the pain in the world should be to pray, taking the concerns of my heart to the Throne of God. But there comes a point when the pain is overwhelming, and I can’t even find the words to pray.

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As a young man, my dad had a large original oil painting hanging in his apartment. It depicts a vase full of cheerful, daisy-like flowers painted in the hallmark colors and character of the early 70s: loud, gaudy and stylized; it’s a fitting tribute to the culture of that era. Years later the painting found a prominent place on our family room wall.

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In recent weeks, a horrible virus swept through some of my family. It was one of those times you are sick where there’s not a name like strep, where you can easily pop some meds, and it will all fade away quickly.

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When I was largely pregnant with my first son, we had a chimney fire in our house. Something had gone wrong in the night with our oil furnace, the chimney clogged up, and it caught fire. We were awakened by a pet that was upset about the smoke filling the house (the smoke detectors went off a minute later). My husband, a volunteer firefighter at the time, ran to see what was happening and to call 911. I wrapped our toddler daughter in a blanket and ran to the neighbor’s house.

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