When a colleague reached out to invite me to a baby shower, I started thinking about whether I had time to make a diaper cake.

Lent isn’t about winning. It’s about taking small steps that we hope lead to big ones. If we’re doing this right, Lent will not be easy. But we are trying.

So, dinner was a little bumpy. But then my sister pulled out a pan of fresh apple crisp—still warm from the oven—for dessert.

Even with our best plans, life is full of surprises. Whether they bring joy or sorrow, pleasure or pain, light or darkness, they offer us an opportunity to grow in love and relationship with God and others who walk life’s journey with us.

Dear People Who Love Winter, Just checking in here. See all that ice and snow? Yeah, that snowcrete that is our permanent backdrop now? The stuff we have children sliding all over trying to catch the bus or walk to school? Yup, that. It’s hard to miss. I will admit that it’s lovely and shiny […]

In the middle of the night, a mother caring for her child is not alone. A convent of nuns wakes up during the night just to pray for new mothers.

Although few of us will ever sing at the Grand Ole Opry, may each of us find a way to use the talents God has given us.

Anyone along the way could have said, “No.” “Not today.” “Why should we bother?” But people said yes,

I hoped everything would be fine, and that the baby would continue to grow and thrive. But, just a few weeks later, we learned the baby had passed away.

We might see this new time in muted sepia tones or we might see it unfolding in vibrant technicolor. However we feel about this new year, we have the chance to begin again. And we hold onto the faith that we are not alone.