Encouraging Deep Roots

Thanksgiving ended up being a very nice day even though it was cold and blustery.  It was peaceful and relaxing and I even got to watch parts of the Macy's Day Thanksgiving parade which I haven't done in years. It was cozy and warm in the house while the lake effect snow machine churned outside. I braved the weather and went for a walk and the snow was beautiful. It went from coming down gently to whiteout conditions in less than a minute so it was the right decision not to go get my father-in-law and for my daughter and son-in-law to not come. It's still snowing and that is supposed to continue on and off until early tomorrow morning so it'll be another quiet day. Today I will be decorating the house for Christmas and Advent begins on Sunday. I love everything about the holidays and am looking forward to the next few weeks. Dan and I are sharing the messages at church through Christmas and as I've dug into the passages I'm speaking on it's been so good. No ...

I've spent the past two days in the kitchen, preparing family favorites for tomorrow's feast. I was looking forward to having my daughter and son-in-law here, as well as my father-in-law. A lake effect storm has changed all those plans. We are not going to be able to pick up my father-in-law who lives an hour away and my daughter and her husband changed their plans so they wouldn't have to drive in the height of the storm. They are headed further south to his parent's house instead. I'm surprisingly okay with all of this. Of course, I'm disappointed, but I'm learning to hold my plans loosely. I put two of the pies in the freezer and will have a less hectic day tomorrow.  In the past, I would have really had a hard time with all of this and would have felt quite dejected. However, there is nothing that can be done about it and I can spend tomorrow being sad about who isn't there and make the day miserable, or I can pivot and enjoy a quieter holiday. I cho...

Thanksgiving week is here and it's one of my favorite times of the year.  As I'm working through my menu and what last minute things I need to pick up at the store, I'm also keeping my eye on the weather report. Living near one of the Great Lakes is unpredictable and it went from being fairly nice on Thursday to now having a lake effect storm watch happening overnight.  That is going to frustrate me if it comes to fruition as I know my father-in-law was so happy that he was coming to our house for Thanksgiving. I'm praying that the weather holds off until Thursday night so we can go get him and get him back to his place. The particular area we have to travel through to get him can be bad during these storms.  In the meantime, I'm going to carry on as planned. I'm thankful for so many things this week.  💓I'm thankful for my love of cooking and baking. It makes the preparation enjoyable. I put my pie pumpkins in the oven yesterday to roast. It makes it so muc...

My favorite week is coming up and I've been busy. Thanksgiving is on Thursday and it's one of my favorite holidays. I'm not quite sure why since it generally means days of cooking! But it's probably because I love to cook and bake and tend to show my love that way.  But it's also the time of the year when all sorts of other activities are happening too - we decorate our house for Christmas, the church gets decorated next Saturday, Advent begins on Sunday, and all the fun holiday things happen. Today we are having a pie social after church and I made a coconut custard pie and a chocolate-walnut brownie pie. The brownie pie is a new one and it basically seems to be a brownie inside a pie crust. We will see how people like it! I got a head start on my pie crusts and made 7 of them the other day and put them in the freezer. I made three loaves of orange-ginger challah bread yesterday. Two went in the freezer and I'll pull one out for Thanksgiving. We are having my f...

Gratitude, thankfulness, thanksgiving, joyfulness These are such beautiful words and yet, so elusive for so many. How do you cultivate these in your life especially when things seem so bleak or you are facing hard times? Can one be thankful for cancer or children leaving the faith or bills coming due with no money to pay them? Can you be thankful when the days seem unending and you cannot see the light ahead? I think it is possible if we look at these things in a different light. When we begin to develop the ability to find gratitude for little moments it changes things. Those tiny little opportunities for thanksgiving snowball into an overwhelming gratitude even in the face of pain. My mother passed away from cancer 5 years ago. In fact, three days from now will mark that anniversary. It was a terrible time and yet, there are things about that time for which I can give thanks. The cancer diagnosis was horrible and her last days were so hard. But when I reflect on those days I have gra...

I was recently asked, "If you were to retire today what would you do?" At first, I thought I thought it was an easy question to answer, but the more I thought about it, the harder it became. My entire life centers around ministry activity and what will my life look like when I'm no longer in full-time ministry? I do know I would continue to volunteer in some way, but that wasn't what the intent was behind the question. What would I do with the majority of my time once I'm finished? And that isn't really that far in the future. It has forced me to begin to reflect on how much of my identity is wrapped up in my profession and caused me to wonder how will I react when I don't have that in my life anymore. I like to think it would be a fairly smooth adjustment, but I'm not always so sure. I'll be 64 in January so it's natural to start thinking of what life will be like when we are no longer in professional ministry. I have so many different hobbie...

My husband and I worked for an inner city parachurch organization for ten years, and one of the ministries we had was an early learning center for 80 children, ages 2 1/2 through Kindergarten. In order for incoming children to attend the school they had to be potty-trained and no longer using a pacifier.  The only exception to this rule were a couple of the staff's children who were transitioning into the classroom. We let their children start without the above criteria, but the goal was to get them to the point where they would be where the rest of the children were. There was a teacher in the school who happened to be a Franciscan nun, Sister Angela Francis. She was an older woman who could be quite strict, but she was so wonderful with the little ones and did something special for each one when it was time to give up that binky.  Sister Angela would hold a special ceremony and bring a special "treasure" box and would hold a "becoming a big girl or boy" ceremo...

I recently discovered that I have cateracts and will need cataract surgery in January. They've scheduled the two dates and will be working on my left eye first, which is the worst of the two. I've noticed the past year things have seemed a bit cloudy, but thought it just meant I needed new glasses. It's hard to read unless I either hold the book right up to my face or have a very bright light on it. I purchased a magnifying glass with an LED light built in which helps, but something definitely needs to be done. I'm amazed that modern medicine has made it so I will be able to see without glasses. I'm actually looking forward to not wearing them for the first time since I was 6 years old. I'm looking forward to having my dim sight be replaced with clearness. I'm looking forward to that spiritually as well. When I look  at different circumstances in my life it's easy to feel discouraged. I have to remind myself of how God is at work despite the difficulties...

  I've been doing these almost daily posts on my Encouraging Deep Roots page on Facebook this month. It's the month of Thanksgiving and I was reflecting on how to create joy in one's life.  The first way to do this is to cultivate a heart that actually finds things to be thankful for in your life. Look around you each day and find one thing, no matter how small or how large, and thank the Lord for it. Start a list or write it on a piece of paper and put it in a jar. Pull out them out from time to time or on New Year's eve and thank the Lord for His many blessings in your life all year long.  Is your spouse or family not interested in this? It's okay. This is not about them; it's about cultivating a heart of thankfulness in YOU! You may find it's contagious and it will definitely change your attitude. I'm developing the list of ways to do this as I go, but thought I'd share what I have so far here. 1. Reflect on God's forgiveness.  Psalm 32:1-2 sa...