Sometimes, we get so busy that we forget to pause; we forget that it is June and the lightning bugs are back. The woods are full of swarming wonder, lights blinking everywhere at once. In bygone days, when I was little, I sat on the stoop, waiting; I waited for those winged creatures to come
A Rickety Ladder & Seeds of Hope
Hope seems to spring anew in the most unlikely places. Sometimes, God speaks wisdom into our souls when we least expect to hear his voice. It is as if a bolt of thunder clapped within our very hearts; his words speak volumes in the common thread of daily life. It is our daily life that
A Mountaintop Wedding and Ballet Slippers
There will be a mountaintop wedding this day in Shenandoah; soft rain will fall, and I will wear my ballet slippers and dance in the mist. I like the music and the clouds do not disturb me; swirling cotton floats against my skin. The bride is lovely; she knows these mountains well, and the valley
The Autobiography of a Girl
Yesterday, or so it seems, I was seventeen, swimming in the wide open sea, scouring the beach in search of shells and sea glass. I wrote my name in the sand, and time and again the tide came in and washed away every trace; there was just a remembrance of my footsteps. Yesterday, or so
Grace Notes & May Day Promises
May Day is notorious as a day for flowers; traditionally, it is the day for giving surprise bouquets, and it awakens in our hearts the promise of spring. On the first day of May we cannot help but feel the magic that is spring. The azaleas are blooming in a sea of green. Each iris
A Butterfly and an Open Window
Spring is a marvelous time for opening the windows and letting all that fresh, fragrant air come into the house; It is also a great time to open the windows of our minds to new thoughts, new beginnings, and new insights. Change can be good! It seems in life that as soon as we arrive