Tag: God-given gifts
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Christmas brings out the Poet in me
I am not a poet – but every once in a while, especially around Christmas, I like to play with song lyrics. Several years ago I was a real estate broker, and I rewrote six Christmas songs with a real estate theme. The new titles were: O Real Estate, O Real Estate O Little Town…
Marian
assisted living, christmas, cowbells, ELCA, ELCA Good Gifts Catalog, God’s Global Barnyard, God-given gifts, Good Gifts catalog, Jingle Bells, Mrs. Neupert, National Library Week, O Christmas Tree, O Real Estate, O Susanna, old proverb, onomatopoeic, play, poet, real estate, song lyrics, Stephen Foster, time to play, Twas the Night before Christmas, write a poem -
Why in the World do I keep writing blog posts?
When I sat down at my computer to draft this blog post, my dog Floey came up to me, sat down, looked up and asked, “Hey, Mom. Why in the world do you keep writing blog posts? Just think about how much time we would have for walks if you didn’t do all this writing.”…
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The Gift of a Lifetime
Floey was sitting in the living room, in front of her house (crate), looking up at the painting on the wall. “Mom, can you believe it? Kitty painted a portrait of me! She’s such a wonderful neighbor. I just love to go see her. She often gives me MilkBones, but I can’t believe she loves…
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Henry’s Story
Henry is one of my heroes. I knew Henry for a total of about twelve years, starting in 2000. He wasn’t a perfect person. He had one significant flaw that I knew of – not being punctual. He lived by his internal clock, not his watch. But he taught me more about forgiveness, kindness, and…
Marian
absolute commitment to serving God, accomplishments, Adventures in Hospitality, auction, auctioneer, clown, clown ministry, clowning, Country Comforts, forgiveness, friends, God’s love, God-given gifts, guardian, guardianship, heart transplant, Henry, Henry and Bob, Henry Hall, hospitality, kindness, legal guardian, life calling, life challenges, life changes, listening for God, love your neighbor, ministry, organ transplant, parsonage, Peter Rooster, reflections, rooster, serving God, spirituality, Willerup, Willerup United Methodist Church -
The Goose Family is Home Again! Happy Spring!
I got up from my desk and walked over to the patio door. “Oh, look, Floey, the Goose Family has returned.” A goose made a big splash as it landed on the water. The honking got even louder as another goose landed. “That looks like Gilbert and Gloria. Let’s go out and welcome them.” “Who…
Marian
Abbey, Cleland McAfee, Floey, friends, geese, Gilbert Goose, Gloria Goose, God loves us, God’s love, God-given gifts, goose family, Grace Goose, Gregory Goose, hymn sing, joy, kindness, Lent, lenten hymns, Lenten songs, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, nature, Near to the Heart of God, reflections, seasons, spirituality, talking with God, whispering winds -
Why Was I Created?
Over the last few years I’ve had the practice of starting the day with reading from two or three devotional books by my favorite inspirational writers. This year I’m reading: The Monastic Way by Joan Chittister (a pamphlet that comes monthly, with the readings of each month based on a common theme), Bread for the…
Marian
called by God, change in my life, daily devotions, devotional book, failure, God’s love, God-given gifts, Henri Nouwen, Jimmy Carter, Joan Chittister, Korth-Jacobson LLC, life calling, life challenges, life changes, life purpose, listening for God, meaningless work, Monastic Way, reflections, self-employed, spirituality, talking with God, The Purpose-Driven Life, USA TODAY poll, wasting my life -
Minor Characters in Our Life Stories
In last week’s blog post I wrote about the Sunday dinners of my childhood. To keep the story short, I left out one of the minor characters in those dinners, Eva Frankson. I’ve been thinking about her ever since. Eva lived with Grandma. My grandma had a small house across the street from the west side…
Marian
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Better Than Counting Sheep
One night last week I couldn’t sleep. I’d taken a Sudafed for some head congestion, and my body just wouldn’t let me drift off to sleep. So, I tried to heed the advice I’d received from a friend and shared on Facebook a week or two ago – use the time to talk with God.…
Marian
Christmas Mountain, counting sheep, Country Comforts Assisted Living, Dad, daily devotions, Dan Korth, Danny Korth, Debbie Macomber, fighting with my brother, first grade teacher, friends, God’s Guest List, God’s love, God-given gifts, Helen Knoblauch, heroes in my life, joy, kindness, life calling, life challenges, life changes, listening for God, love your neighbor, Mim, mom, Mrs. Knoblauch, my heroes, Nancy Kornelsen, reflections, sibling rivalry, sleepless, spirituality, talking to God, talking with God, tractor -
New Words for 2015
After one year’s experience, I’ve decided that I really like the idea of having one special word to focus on for a whole year, as an alternative to making New Year’s resolutions. Last year’s word for me was JOY. Knowing that JOY was what I would concentrate on every day from January 1, 2014 through…
Marian
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The Best Family Tradition of All – Baking Christmas Cookies!
For the month of December, Joan Chittister has been focusing on the role of traditions in our lives in her pamphlet, The Monastic Way. On December 11 she said: Traditions are meant to develop us emotionally, one layer of understanding at a time. It is our traditions – the Easter eggs, the Christmas trees –…
Marian
Berliner Kranzer, center of our souls, Christmas cookies, Christmas tradition, cookie cutouts, family tradition, gingerbread cookies, God’s love, God-given gifts, Joan Chittister, Kringla, krumkake, listening for God, love your neighbor, mixed marriage, peppernuts, reflections, spirituality, sugar cookies, talking with God, tradition
Whispering Winds Blog 