Welcoming Winter

“Winter is a time for comfort, for good food,
and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand,
and for talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”‘
Edith Sitwell
It is with sadness that I pack away all the autumn things, yet I look towards this new season…the season of winter.  Of cold rainy [...]

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Happy Thanksgiving

For the beauty of the earth,
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth over and around us lies,
Lord of all to thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.
hymn by

Folliott Pierpoint 1844

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Releasing Joy Through Thanks

The secret of the power of joy is this:  Giving thanks releases joy.
Mary Robinson Reynolds

I have several friends and family facing a difficult holiday this Thanksgiving.  They are facing mountains they have no idea how they are going to climb, they have financial challenges they do not know how they will solve.  And in the [...]

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Winter Joy Card

Last night snow fell in higher elevations of the mountains. Even though we didn’t get snow here, it was so cold in our old house  we couldn’t seem to get it warm. I decided it was time to start thinking of winter.  I changed my blog header to a winter scene, built a large fire [...]

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The Little Details of a Prayer Shawl Ministry

It has been said that God is in the details.  Well, the details are what often snag you up when you begin a prayer shawl ministry.  Here are a few things we learned in the last several years…
We don’t make a habit of it, but you can wash the shawls if you have to.  Occasionally [...]

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Prayer Blankets for Babies

We had been having our prayer shawl ministry for about a year when I was sitting in a service where the focus was the sanctity of life.  In our denomination, this is a Sunday where the focus in on honoring life. Life in the womb, for the newborn, as well as the sick and elderly.  [...]

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Sacred Life Sunday: Wrapped Up In Love

This fall I have been watching my little granddaughter when her Mom is at work.  She is one year old and at that halfway point of still being a baby and wanting to be a little girl. She has come up with her own name to call me and that is MeMe.  We had a [...]

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Starting a Prayer Shawl Ministry

Every single day the top views for my blog is anything related to prayer shawls.  This tells me that people are interested in them and are searching for information about them.  This summer I helped a man name Fred and his wife start a prayer shawl ministry with his congregation.  Fred and his wife don’t [...]

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Sacred Life Sunday: Thanksgiving Prayer

O Thou who hast given us so much, mercifully grant us one thing more…
a grateful heart.
There is something about being grateful that can take a bad situation and make it more tolerable.  It is like being thankful is the light that shines through the darkness, allowing us just enough light to reveal the beauty.
When I [...]

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The Heart of Autumn

“The heart of autumn must have broken here,
and poured its treasure out upon the leaves.”-Charlotte Bates

Every year I think this is the most beautiful autumn I have ever seen.  Then another autumn comes and it seems even more lovely than the last.  Maybe it was the warm days and cool nights we had this [...]

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