“All it took
Was the glance back “like they knew all along”
Or the tone in their voices on the phone,
To affirm that, indeed, I’d done the best I could,
Even if I’d failed.”

“Isn’t that where the miracle is? Jesus enters with us in our struggles just like he showed up at that small town wedding, assuring us that, yes, there IS enough.”

“None of us is the Messiah, of course. But we each are children of God, and, as such, we are more than we usually imagine ourselves to be. We were conceived before the world began to be a unique part of God’s holy plan. Do we know who we really are and what our mission is?”

“What Jesus intended to teach was what God had planned all along: that people get along together, work to help each other, take care of their neighbors, work to make the stranger feel welcome, feed the hungry, clothe those who are lacking, visit those who are in prison, and any one of many ministries that make the world better.”

“Hope is hard to come by these days. Never ending pandemic and mutations, inflation, escalating global tensions, crime and political divisions on the home front. A mental health practitioner told me that, regardless of her patients’ diagnoses, every single one is suffering anxiety and increased stress.”

“Faith is not a box on a checklist. The point of faith is not primarily knowledge or mastery. The point of faith is relationship—to be specific, to accept the unimaginable truth that God loves us fiercely, tenderly, protectively, intimately as our Creator.”

“As I gazed through the ice I wondered, how often do we become frozen and harden, causing our view of what lies ahead to become obscured? My reflection was not abstract or rhetorical, but practical, as I could feel my own heart hardening.”

“When it came time for Isaac to get his shark kite soaring, he had a few more missteps along the way. There were nose dives and immediate flops back to the ground. This is what my heart feels, I think. With every news headline and report from doctors, my heart crashes. Yet, Isaac continued to smile and lift his kite to the wind.”

“My husband moves up beside me, from his assigned place at the back of our trekking line. He puts his gloved hand on my shoulder. We climb higher, together, and I can feel more of the heaviness subside and my stomach settling as we navigate the silhouettes of people, snow and rock.”