By Sheryl Murray I have someone in my life who is difficult. She often ridicules my cooking, my parenting, and my life in general. You know the kind--someone who points out when you’ve gained a pound or used the wrong word. I’d steer clear of her, but she’s a relative. I try to just ignore …
Not Prideful
By Courtney Lee “Yes, of course I remember that night. . . . It started with Jesus asking John and me to go on ahead and get the Passover meal prepared. We had become accustomed to asking strangers odd things at this point. It was going fine until Jesus made it very apparent we had …
The Weed of Envy
By Bethany Bettenhausen “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy . . .” 1 Cor. 13:4a Merriam Webster defines envy as feeling resentful toward someone on account of an advantage which she possesses. In other words, someone has something that you’d like, and instead of feeling happy for her, you feel resentful …
Jesus is Kind
By Libby Farmen We all want more kindness and compassion. Especially in the climate of today, we see an absence of love for one another. The concept of love is complex, and we often equate it with emotion. We love a lot of people because it makes us feel good. However, this means that our …
Love Is Patient
By Kristen Fox “When I hear ‘Love is patient,’ I think about how I’m called to love and relate well to people in spite of how I am treated. I find this especially challenging in my family – with my husband and children. It’s easy for me to allow what I view as their shortcomings/annoying …
A More Excellent Way
What is love? Songs, poems, books and movies have tried to answer that question with varying degrees of success. Yet, overall, I’d say our culture still seems to have a very distorted view of the concept. We talk of love at first sight, falling “in” and “out” of love, self-love and free love but, in …
Even Though
A thousand eons ago, back in a time I like to call BEFORE, I spent a weekend in Nebraska City at our annual directional team retreat. Saturday morning Shereen sent us all on a prayer walk. Though the calendar still read winter, that morning held all the promise of spring. I wandered down woody trails …
Homesick
By Ashley Synowicki We are not made for this world. I am sure of that now more than ever. Before COVID-19, I was too comfortable. I was enjoying my routine and took comfort in the things of this world—things that are temporary and will forever pass away. My attention was not fixed solely on the …
Finding the Silver Lining
By Mary Wenzl I am retired, but I add to my monthly income by substituting in the public schools as a Para-educator (Para). The last time I worked was only for a half day on February 26, 2020. I did not know at the time that it would be my last day of work for …
I Can Hear the Wolves Howling
By Courtney Lee A few weeks ago, I was invited to join a group on Facebook called “Go Outside and Howl at 8pm.” I didn’t respond to the request so their posts kept popping into my feed. It is a group, quite literally, of people going outside at 8pm every night to howl and hear …
