The Grass Is Green Enough

A very sad thing happened to Rudolph on the way to Christmas dinner.  He lost one of his antlers on the freeway. "How can this be?" You ask. Well, it all started when my mother-in-law rolled down the window...well, actually, it started when I purchased a red nose and antlers for my KIA. Silly. Yes. But fun. And these days I'll take all the fun I can muster up. But my fun didn't last long, because when we picked up Don's mom on Christmas, she didn't know the rule about not rolling down the window. So, there I was, perched in the back seat balancing the scalloped potatoes and flowers and salad and such. In a split second - woosh! The antlers flew onto the freeway. Oops. Sorry about that.  I've been praying for the past couple weeks about what ONE word God wants me to focus on in the coming year. Last year my word was HOPE. I've been sensing that in 2016, He wants me to focus on the concept of RELEASE. Letting go. Setting free. Giving up. I think t

"Show hospitality to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9) I recently attended an amazing funeral for a dearly loved woman at our church.   Barbara touched so many lives during her 79 years on this earth that the sanctuary was packed!   In hearing the stories about her, the most evident thing was that she always took time for people.   She lived out hospitality in her day-to-day life everywhere she went.  She made others feel welcome, whether it was in her home, at Bible study, or in the church lobby.   I don’t doubt that she was intimately acquainted with the goings on of her mailman, hair dresser, and local grocery store checkers/courtesy clerks as well.  Barbara asked questions.  She was genuinely interested in others’ lives.   She listened.   Most of all, she was a devout woman of prayer.   Barbara truly lived out 1 Peter 4:9.   But how did she manage to balance the whole “Mary/Martha” thing so well?   I was thinking about the idea of hospitality today,