Happiness vs. Joy

“Happy New Year”. That’s the saying. Everyone is going to be bringing in the new year whether or not he is ready. Time marches on. What would happen if, instead of bringing in the New Year, we blessed it in? Do we really want a happy new year when we can have a year filled with joy?

One hardly needs to say this, but kids get really excited about Christmas. Why am I saying something that hardly needs to be said? Probably because

My sisters and I used to get together once in a while and when we were talking, if we couldn’t think of a word, we would just say, “Word-word…” and continue talking. Since we no longer get together—all living in different states, all (except one) older and less likely to get around much, and all trying to stay safe from the plague, that means that most of our conversations are phone conversations.

Hey, there, guess what! It’s September! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I still get that little tingle of excitement when I turn the calendar to September, just remembering all the years of excitement and anticipation at the beginning of a new school year! Yeah, I know, and yes, I am a little old for that, but some things don’t change.

I just had to share a few “out of the mouths of babes” stories, and hope you will bear with me. After all, I am old and should be allowed to ramble from time to time!

Living the Charmed Life

Twenty-one years ago we brought (through the ministry we were running) several children over to the States from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Two of the young ladies became our daughters. At that time I was writing a monthly column called “On the Home Front”. I ran across this piece and decided to use it this month (with a few changes). At the time of the original piece our ladies had been with us for a little over a year. Now they have children of their own and they are all precious, living the charmed life. Here is what I wrote:

Home. One of my favorite places to be. Recently I ran across an old column I wrote. With a few changes, I’d like to share it with you.

Are ya hit?

This beautiful May weather is just the thing for those of us who dip back into remembrances of yesteryear. It was always the month of May when you could go barefoot and play outside later and later, when the summer clothes came out and the winter clothes went into hiding (only to be too small for you to wear the following fall), when flowers and birds and butterflies made life just too beautiful to mention. Ah, the memories of May!

Lent: Sharing the Passion

Having been raised a Baptist and spent most of my adult life in the Church of the Nazarene, there are certain things that I had not really been aware of in my spiritual walk.

Photo by Luca Laurence on Unsplash

Many years ago I wrote a column for our Sunday School Class’s newsletter. I have been doing some going through things, again trying to simplify my life, when I found this column. So since this is March and March makes me think of spring cleaning, I decided to resurrect it.