Tag: reflections
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Awful August – except for …
Does it ever seem like your world is shattered? That life is suddenly broken? For some of my family members, that’s what August has been like this year. I guess I would describe August 2014 along two tracks of events. One track is affecting my broadly extended family. The other track is affecting Mim and…
Marian
93-year-old, amazing transformation, broadly extended family, car accident, change in my life, condo sold, Conrad Bender, Ecclesiastes, extended family, family, farmhouse, For everything there is a season, friends, friends and family, funeral, getting organized, God at work, God will take care of you, God’s comforting love, God’s love, God’s presence, God-given gifts, hospice, kind strangers, kindness, life challenges, life changes, life of the farmhouse, listening for God, love your neighbor, next phase, oven cleaner, reflections, retreat, sadness, Sandy Bender, self-cleaning oven, sister-in-law, spiritual retreat center, spirituality, talking with God, time to die, time to mourn, time to weep, track one, whispering winds, Whispering Winds Retreat Haven, will to live -
Lobster Fest Wisconsin Style
Forty-three years ago I ate my first lobster. I had just completed my first year as a high school English teacher in Plainfield, Connecticut. The kids were done with school, but the teachers were required to show up one more day to grade final exams and turn in semester grades. None of us teachers really…
Marian
Adventures in Hospitality, blueberry buckle, Connecticut, Country Comforts, Country Comforts Assisted Living, English teacher, friends, God’s love, God-given gifts, Home Ec teacher, hospitality, how to eat lobster, joy, kindness, lobster, lobster boil, lobster feast, Lobster Fest, Lobster Fest Wisconsin Style, love your neighbor, Margaret and Don, mussels, ocean song, Plainfield, Puff the Magic Dragon, reflections, spirituality, steamed lobster -
Joy in Unexpected Places
The highlight of my day last Thursday came at the end of the women’s worship service in the county jail. As usual, I had gone to the Dane County Jail in Madison to play the piano for the women’s worship service. But this service was a little different. Instead of a more typical opening hymn,…
Marian
Be Not Afraid, Bob Dufford, Come We That Love the Lord, Dane County Jail, God’s love, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, highlight, jail chapel, jail ministry, Jesus loves me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, joyful moments, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, Marching to Zion, reflections, spirituality, talking with God, unexpected joy, women’s worship service, worship service -
A Roundabout Path to Joy
Last week I read the book One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity by Debbie Macomber. It’s a wonderful little book with dozens of stories of people being generous in some way, and the consequences of that single act of generosity – to the recipient, to the giver, and to the observer. The book…
Marian
assisted living, Debbie Macomber, Discovering the Power of Generosity, feeding of the 5000, generosity, generous, God’s love, God-given gifts, joy, kindness, listening for God, loaves and fishes, love your neighbor, Mardelle Kornelsen, Mardelle Kornelsen Westley Burrowes, One Simple Act, path to joy, reflections, roundabout, spirituality, talking with God -
“Family”
About 40 years ago, I went “home” with Mim for the first time. We drove from Chicago to Kenyon, Minnesota, at least a seven-hour drive, the first weekend in December. In Kenyon, we picked up Mim’s mom, Selma, and drove another 15 miles to go to the St. Olaf College Christmas concert. Mim’s mom, who…
Marian
125th anniversary, 150th anniversary, Bill Gaither, branch of God’s family, childhood church, church family, church of my childhood, country church, family, family church, family of God, family reunion, friends, God’s family, God’s love, Gol, Gol Lutheran Church, home church, immigrated from Norway, Kenyon Minnesota, kindness, life changes, listening for God, love your neighbor, Messiah Lutheran Church, Otto Jacobson, Philip Yancey, reflections, Resurrection Lutheran Church, retreats, Selma Jacobson, sesquicentennial, spirituality, St. Olaf College, Willerup United Methodist Church -
What a Gift!
It happened again Saturday morning. It doesn’t happen very often. But every once in a while I hear something so beautiful in a fantastic sort of way, that I can’t help it. My mouth forms itself into a huge smile, and it stays that way so long that my facial muscles begin to ache. That…
Marian
Ahreum Han, Alfred Brendel, attitude, Can-Can, CanCan, coughing, God-given gifts, grin, hospitality, Jacques Offenbach, Jazz Preludes, Johannes Matthias Michel, kindness, life calling, life challenges, noisy bird, organ concert, Orpheus in the Underworld, Overture Center, pipe organ, reflections, smile, smiling muscles, sneezing -
Blessed are the Arrogant
God in the form of the Holy Spirit came to chat with me while I was in the shower this morning. The hot steaming water was pretty noisy splashing on me and on the shower door, so I’m not sure I heard absolutely everything the Holy Spirit said completely right, but here’s the gist of…
Marian
accomplishments, Beatitudes, Bible translations, blessed, Blessed are the Arrogant, friends, God blesses, God’s love, God-given gifts, gun control, Holy Spirit, immigration, kindness, life challenges, life changes, listening for God, love your neighbor, nation’s borders, New Living Translation, outdated, peace makers, reflections, spirituality, talking with God, The Message, welfare hand-out -
UFF DA Revisited
A few weeks ago I blogged about taking “Mary” (one of the people we care for) to the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles to get an official State ID card. She may need the Wisconsin ID to vote, but more urgently, she needs a State ID to cash in a U.S. Government Savings Bond. As…
Marian
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Abbey’s Dream
Abbey came running to see me this morning. “Hey Mom, I’ve gotta tell ya about the dream I had last night. You won’t believe everyone who was in it!” “Really, Abbey. Who was there? Tell me all about it,” I replied. “The dogs who used to live with you – Megabyte and Maia were in…
Marian
Abbey, Abbey’s dream, Aunt Marilyn, cats and dogs, dream, Eliza Hewitt, friends, God’s love, heaven, hospitality, Kimberly Kat, kindness, lessons from our pets, life calling, life challenges, life changes, listening for God, love your neighbor, Maia, Marilyn Huebel, Megabyte, reflections, Spiffy, spirituality, When we all get to heaven -
Another Lesson from Abbey
“Hey, Mom. Thanks for showing me Aunt Marilyn’s blog post last week. I’ve heard a lot about Millie and Aunt Marilyn’s two previous cats, and I’m sorry I never met them. I don’t remember that you’ve ever taken me to Chicago to see your old home and to visit with your old friends.” “Well, Abbey,…
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