Eternal Life is Now

Something I learned recently and have been pondering is the deeper meaning of the phrase “eternal life.”   I had always interpreted it as pertaining to life after death, life continuing on in Heaven after the death of our physical bodies.  Maybe you have done the same.  In John 3:16, (“For God so loved the world …

The Mundane Middle

I want you to think about two extremes.  First, think about the best day of your life.  Take a moment to savor the feelings and bask in the memory.  Now, conversely, I want you to think about the worst day of your life.  Don’t stay there too long, but think back to the strong emotion …

Follow the Pattern

“I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless” (Psalm 101:2-3). Patterns are a part of life.  Symmetry, in nature and art, is part of what gives a thing beauty.  I remember the symmetry in my grandmother’s quilts as she stitched a hodgepodge …

What Are You Wearing

What are you wearing?  I wonder how many times in our lives we have each said that phrase .  Particularly women, want to know that they will not be overdressed or underdressed to the situation. This has most likely happened to all of us – we’ve shown up somewhere too “fancy” or too casual, which …

Words and Confessions

Words.  Twenty-six letters in our alphabet.  They can be arranged to create a nursery rhyme or great works like Shakespeare produced.  Letters can be put together in such a way as to inspire, or to criticize, to convey truth, or to spread falsehood.   In the very beginning, the world came into existence with words, God’s words.  The nothingness became …

Live Out Love

“I will show you a still more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31). If you have trusted in Christ, then you are a part of his Body.  Like our physical bodies, this Body has many parts, but all function together, each doing its job.  If one member suffers, all suffer together.  This is easy to understand …

He Chose to be a Carpenter

Lent and Advent are seasons of contemplation, perhaps more than any others.  While during  Lent, we focus on Holy Week, and all things leading to the cross, I have found myself musing on the life of Jesus before his years of formal ministry.  He did not choose to come as an earthly king or military …