Category: Gratitude

Sharing Cookies & Legacy

My son bought me a gingerbread man. While that may not seem like a big deal to you, for me it represents a generous role-reversal. For close to 20 years, my family joined my mom and nephew for one summer week along the Monterey Bay in what we called our “Cation House.” Because Mom and … Continue reading Sharing Cookies & Legacy

Sharing Stories Only You Can Tell

My mom died on February 4, 2023. Though she’d been declining over the past three years, when she left us it felt like a devastating earthquake, complete with aftershocks. Six weeks later, my sister organized a gathering Mom would have enjoyed: a garden party and lunch with her inner circle of dear friends. She arranged … Continue reading Sharing Stories Only You Can Tell

This Week’s Skies…

Look, up at the sky. There is a light, a beauty up there, that no shadow can touch. - TolkienOnly from the heart can you touch the sky. - Rumi Last week was so blazing hot that I hid indoors as much as possible. With this week’s cooler temps, I found my way back outdoors. … Continue reading This Week’s Skies…

The Welcoming Prayer

As New Year’s Day 2020 dawned, many expected a year of clear vision. We could clearly see our priorities and accordingly set attainable goals, perhaps in an ambitious list of 20, like walking 20 minutes a day. And then the world toppled sideways. Our intentions for how we’d conduct “normal” life fell out the window … Continue reading The Welcoming Prayer

Finding Peace Outside

Recently I have been wrestling with a deep (and unnecessary) disappointment, a let-down that pressed hard on still-tender tissue beneath old scars. Things didn’t have to go this way, and yet they did and I’ve done all I can do. I have also noticed something interesting in my response to this turn of events: I … Continue reading Finding Peace Outside

January in California

I am enamored with January in California. While friends around the world share pictures of snow or, much worse, inflamed cheeks frosted with icy eyelashes, here “green” has become a verb. We watch, newly astonished, at the greening of our once crisp straw hills. Once dead lawns resurrect themselves, springing to life with tender green … Continue reading January in California

Gratitude as Joyful Self-Care

What book has made a lasting positive impression on your life? If you’re a reader, you know: some books are more than good. They’re life-changing. Ann Voskamp’s One Thousand Gifts has been one such book for me. Though Voskamp has endured heartbreaking tragedy within her own family, she found her way to gratitude and, through … Continue reading Gratitude as Joyful Self-Care

Remain in God’s Love

“Remain in God’s love.” That phrase from John 15 caught me. What does it look like to remain in God’s love? According to the passage, we remain in God’s love by keeping God’s commands. But what does that mean? Do we step outside of God’s love when we don’t keep God’s commands? That can’t be … Continue reading Remain in God’s Love

We’ve Been Everywhere, Man

I’m no Johnny Cash so I won’t try to rhyme all the places we’ve been, but wow did we ever go sauntering (read “the before” post here). We can truly sing along with Cash that we’ve crossed the desert's bare, man and breathed the mountain air, man. Santa Barbara, CAGrand Canyon NP, AZ Zion & … Continue reading We’ve Been Everywhere, Man