Hope and Encouragement
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Emergency SOS
The text message comes in the middle of my workday: “Emergency SOS, ____ has made an emergency call from this approximate location.” These are not the words a mother likes to hear about her son. My throat constricts and my heart beats faster as I wonder what the message means. Is my son in trouble? How would I help him if he actually is? I definitely have a few moments of panic but then I remember that my Heavenly Father is with my son right at this very moment. There is nothing that can happen to him where God won’t be there. As I wait to learn more, my…
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Squall Warning
The wind is howling, rattling windows and eaves like a tornado ready to strike. Outside the trees are swaying so much it looks like they will fall over. As I look out the window, snow is actually blowing sideways. These sudden, fierce storms pop up without warning. You can easily be driving along on clear roads and within seconds be surrounded by intense, blowing snow. Such snow squalls make driving treacherous and ill advised. The government has issued a squall warning. While more common in areas with large bodies of water, such a warning is rare in our prairie environment. How do we deal with such an unknown entity? …
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People Watching
I love to watch people. It gives me great delight to observe the antics of children or the funny interactions of some adults. As I wait in line at the store or I am out for a walk, I take note of those around me. I wonder what their lives are like and how they are feeling in their current situation. Some cases even cause me to ponder what might be the story behind the story – what is truly going on their lives behind the scenes? I am always curious what makes people tick and why they behave the way they do. My overarching feeling is a I want…
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Like a Tree
During these colder winter months, I find it restorative to peruse seed catalogues and check out gardening sites and books. For me it is a time of hope as I envision the seeds being planted and growing into fruitful produce. Later, in spring, the budding fruit trees signal the hope of delectable fruit to come. Gardening is a hopeful endeavour, trusting that there will be fruit at the end of the journey. In God’s Word, growing plants are used often to help describe the Christian life. From the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis to the Tree of Life in Revelation, Scripture directs our paths with words…
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The Gift of Peace
As I pack away my Christmas tree and finger the ornaments lovingly made or given by my children in the past, my heart longs for them. Spending Christmas apart from family is one of the most challenging experiences I have faced recently. Our government edict to limit our interactions to our own household at this time is needful to deal with the pandemic, but it hurts. Memories flood my spirit as I work on the tree. I ponder the days when my home was filled with children laughing and bouncing around with their boundless energy. Days of board games and doing puzzles, moments of glee playing together in the…
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Christmas is Cancelled – Or Is It?
When the word came down last week from the government officials in our province that all indoor and outdoor gatherings are prohibited until January it was a tough blow. Any hope of having some kind of Christmas celebration dissipated and sadness set in. No festive dinners. No Christmas carol singing in church. No family gatherings. No trips to see loved ones. At times like these it is extremely easy to have negative thoughts settle in and take root. Like dandelion seeds blowing in the wind and creating new weeds everywhere, these negative images permeate lots of what we do and think if we let them. I challenge you, my readers,…
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Giving
I’m in the middle of watching a Christmas movie where a struggling photographer wins a contest. Rather than use the substantial prize money for himself even though he needs it badly, he decides instead to play a Secret Santa role and help out a number of needy people in his community. He demonstrates great empathy for people and becomes aware of many whose needs are even greater than his own. He starts a trend. Soon multiple people are paying for purchases of others and helping those in need. His giving attitude is infectious. He shows that the best gifts are those where you don’t expect anything back. The rewards he…
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Family Tree
In this Advent season I am working through the Gospel of Matthew. My purpose is to take a journey through Jesus’ earthly story and to truly appreciate the sacrifice He made to come to earth, live among us, and sacrifice Himself for us. Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus. It makes sense that Matthew opens his book this way as his main purpose in writing is to show the Jews how Jesus fulfills Messianic prophecy. Part of that explanation is showing that Jesus is in the lineage of King David. Jesus’ family tree reveals some interesting points. Although it was uncommon for women to be included in such…
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Sufficient Grace
The bad news comes. There is pain. There is sorrow. There are moments of why me? Why now? But the void is filled. Our all-knowing God knows I would face this situation this day. He knows I need His words of hope and they are there. I open up my computer to read my morning devotion and this Scripture confronts me: “But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. “(2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV) The writer of this Scripture, the apostle Paul, is to many…
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Works In Progress
It is painful to watch. Each moment is laborious, fraught with much effort and concentration. My young student valiantly attempts to read the text before her, but it is a struggle. My heart breaks for her. She is already in grade three but cannot read well. Every ounce of my being wants to assist her. It would be easy for me to just read the words for her so she can continue on in the story. She gets the meaning much faster when I read as opposed to her word by word version where she loses the gist of the story before she finishes the sentence. I fight the…
