2.6.23   It is easy for us to feel gratitude for the blessings in our lives, but it is even more important for us to feel gratitude for every challenge that has shaped us, for every painful circumstance that we have been through. As we follow Jesus, as He heals us of all these challenges, […]

11.21.22          Gratitude   I believe that gratitude to God for the life He has given us, for His presence in our lives, for all the blessings, and even for all the challenges and pain is the very essence of our love for God. When I look back on my life, I was most burdened by […]

Living in Gratitude   Gratitude, to me, is the very fundamental aspect of our love of God. Our appreciation for our lives here on this beautiful planet, our families, the friendships that have sustained us over our lifetimes, our work, our leisure interests, our challenges and blessings, forms the underlying support for our love of […]

I wrote a few weeks ago about gratitude. And here we are in the week of Thanksgiving. The first pilgrims feasted in the fall of 1621 in thanksgiving for this new country, for the help of the natives in settling in, and so we do, too, exactly 500 years later, celebrate this country and all […]

  To me, the most important attribute that emerges in us as we bring our whole selves to God is gratitude. Gratitude for all the blessings, the grace, the gifts and talents embedded in us, as well as for the tough lessons of our lives. These tough lessons are the things and people in our […]

Thanksgiving is not confined to one day a year; it underscores everything we do in our love for God, ourselves and our neighbors. First, we are grateful for the church calendar which reminds us about the history of our faith and why it means so much to us. We start the year with Advent, the […]

Gratitude to God is the foundation, the very basis of our love for God. Without gratitude for all that He has done in our lives, for the privilege of living on this beautiful earth, for the life He had given us, for the companions we have along our journey—family and friends and others who inspire […]

“How often I expect life to go well because, well, because I’m a good person and I deserve it. How we privileged folks take our blessings for granted. What if I were to shed that arrogance, lay down the burden of expecting everything to be fine, and greet every grace with wonder and amazement? I’d […]

I learned so many lessons from being married for thirty-seven years to Hank Adams and raising our daughter and twin sons. By far the biggest lesson I learned was to not take anything personally. Early in our marriage, when Hank was mad at me, I took it personally. It was my fault; he was angry […]

”Whatever will be will be! The future’s not ours to see. Que sera, sera. What will be, will be. Que sera, sera.” Many of my readers may be too young to remember this song sung by Doris Day in the 1956 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. It came to my mind not long […]