Colossians 3:13 Can I change how I respond?

Is the glass half-full or half-empty? Are you positive about people or do you keep a list of their wrongs and  your judgments of them? Do someone who hurt you have to say he is sorry before you will forgive them–is your forgiveness dependent on someone else? Does your forgiveness have strings attached?  In the… Read More

Do you know how God designed you?

  “What you are after is truth from the inside out. Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.” (Psalm 51:6, The Message) A brown-headed cowbird egg will always produce a cowbird, never a song sparrow. It can be a healthy, growing cowbird or a sickly one that is full of disease, but it will… Read More

Colossians 3:12 How can you tell if I’m a Christ-follower?

WWJD–What would Jesus do? This expression probably doesn’t have the impact today that it had to many of us when it first was printed on t-shirts, bracelets, necklaces, and billboards. But it is still a question Christ’s followers are called on to make in every situation of every day. And we prepare ourselves to be… Read More

Are you only half awake?

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:1, (NIV) Learning to know yourself and recognizing God’s design of you is the first step in awakening your spirit. It allows you to drop unhealthy habits and expectations, to leave the past behind, and to step into the life… Read More

Colossians 3:11 What does it matter?

We all strive to be king of a hill–physical, financial, academic, beauty, charisma . . .  We like heirarchy, especially if we are on top. If we’re not, we strive to get to that prime spot and knock others lower down on the hill. But God tells us that isn’t what really matters. He is.… Read More

Ebenezer

My life is in flux—my husband and I are entering a new chapter and both of us are in the waiting mode to see where God leads us now. He is retiring from full-time teaching; I am, after a 4-month re-entry into part-time work at the Write Place, again approaching the great unknown—on what will… Read More

The Emporer’s new clothes

Hans Christian Anderson’s story (the brief version) goes like this: The Emperor’s new clothes were the talk of the town. The weavers (swindlers who spun tales, not cloth) showed them to the Emperor and  his court–lifting up their arms as if holding something and describing the splendor of each article of clothing. “The whole suit… Read More