Connected

Olympic Peace

My sister and I watched the Olympic opening ceremony together tonight. We noticed much of the symbolism for peace that we know is international. That was the overarching theme, and for good reasons. We talked about how only a couple of months ago, the media covered a man escaping North Korea and making it over […]

Knew My Father-In-Law

When my mom attends her Parkinson’s exercise class, I usually visit with the other caregivers. As we were talking today, one of the men mentioned that he was a retired police officer in the city. My ex-husband’s father was also a city police officer. I asked the man when he was on the force and […]

Prayers From Friends

This morning I got an unexpected message from someone who said they were praying for me and my family. That helped me to start my day with peace. Then this afternoon, I received a card in the mail from a far away friend who said she was praying for me and my family. That also […]

Sharing Food

Today I saw a touching story. A woman talked about how her older children were now out of the house so she doesn’t cook very much any more. But she decided to make dinner for herself one night. Not knowing how to prepare a small amount, she cooked a large meal. She had so much […]

Dependence on God

Last week, I met a new person at the Lifetree Cafe session that I went to. We exchanged phone numbers as she offered to pray for me. I received a message from her today saying that she was praying for both of us with the scripture Matthew 6:25-34. The subject is “Dependence on God”. It […]

Unexpected Prayer Partner

Tonight I went to a Lifetree Cafe group about caregiving that a friend invited me to. The discussion group has different topics each week and includes a short message about God. I started by meeting a couple of people at the table. There was a short video of a woman who had taken care of […]

Looking for the Light

A friend has been on my mind recently. This morning I thought of her again as I was praying and took action right away by texting her to see how she was doing. After a while, I received a text back. Then another. Then another. She was really struggling. I stopped, said a prayer, and […]

It Does Take a Community

Today at church, we celebrated the Holy Family – Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The deacon talked about how he got together with his family over Christmas. The crowd consisted of grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandchildren. He realized how important the role of each relationship played in the development of the younger generations. He […]

Stille Nacht

Today I took my parents to a party for a friend who turned 95 years old. I knew him too as I sang in the church choir with them all about 30 years ago. He talked about an event that he remembered when the choir went to sing at a nursing home for Christmas one […]

On My Mind

A young woman I have known for many years has been in the forefront of my mind and heart for the past couple of days. When I would think of her, I would pray for her. We touch base every now and again via social media, but I haven’t spoken to her in a very […]