Category: Feeding the Spirit

  • This will not be a 'big' Christmas for us, as in piles of wrapped gifts under the tree. We're already buried under college loans and (yes, I hate to admit it) credit card debt….all those family trips and Fiftieth Birthday get-togethers are catching up with us, I guess. No need to bury ourselves any further with gifts we don't need.…

  • There are some weeks when lighting one candle just isn't enough. This has been one of them. So many of my friends and family - and my friends' families – are in need of prayer right now…from sickness, emergency hospitalizations or kids in trouble…they need our prayers for healing. And then there are so many who are feeling…

  • In one of my earliest memories, I'm lying in bed with my mother perched beside me…teaching me…"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep…" A few years later, she decides I'm old enough for a little more…"Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…" The past couple of…

  • I first heard it at the point where the road bends and dips – the soft gurgling of running water. When was the last time I heard that music out here? I can't remember. I'm sure I took it for granted at the time, not realizing I wouldn't hear it again for months and months. Nestled between…

  • I wore a jacket on my walk this morning. Fall is trying to push summer off the stage. It isn't going without a fight - our temperatures are predicted to climb back up into the 90's this weekend. But this morning dark blue clouds filled the northern sky – I'm not sure if this qualified as a…

  • I'm a fifty-year-old, perimenopausal woman, clinging stubbornly to decades-old dreams of finishing college and making a living as a full-time writer. Imagine my surprise when I heard a song on the radio that seemed to express all of the jumbled emotions many women (and probably men) my age are feeling - disappointment, discouragement, determination, joy and hope – and…

  • "Barbara Inez…just what have you been up to? I mean I've already been gone a week and I'm sure a lot has happened…"  "…Barb, I hope you get your tail in gear and get up here to see me. It's just beautiful…"  "I've always loved that song "You've got a friend" by Carol King and…

  • “…and you need a helping hand. And nothing, nothing is going right…”     I used to cover for our church secretary every once in a while when she had to be out of the office. One of the best, but still toughest parts of the job was answering those calls from people who needed help…with…

  • For several nights I've been scanning and scanning pictures…dozens of pictures depicting a rite of friendship that is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year – my annual Lago Women's Trip to Port Aransas. My friend Nancy asked for the photos months ago – she wants to compile a scrapbook. I jotted it on my list…"photos to…

  •     Vacation is over for sure. Reality smacked me in the face this past week as I tried to pay bills and found myself scraping the bottom of the piggy bank after a week or two of NO income. (A week for Tom, thanks to Freescale's mandatory "one week a quarter off without pay" ordinance, and…