I took a walk through the woods near my house today. Wildflowers were sprinkled over the forest floor, tiny harbingers of spring. I couldn't resist picking a handful to brighten my kitchen. 
    Years ago, my sister and I would make Mother's Day corsages to wear to church fashioned from wildflowers we'd picked in our timber. My sister's,my mom's, and my corsages were made of pale lavender sweet william, bright yellow buttercups, and deep purple violets, bright colors to honor our mothers. But my grandmother's corsage was made up only of white flowers, because her mother was not living. I always thought that was sad.
    This year, I may decide to wear a wildflower coursage again. But I think I will pick bright colors. Although my mom has been in Heaven for almost ten years, I don't think of her as not living. She has simply gone on ahead and I look forward to a joyful reunion someday.
    Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies." (John 11:25)
    Who are you looking forward to being reunited with in Heaven?

While traveling through Mississippi and Louisiana this spring, we saw many of these little houses, tucked away in the woods, crumbling with decay and often overgrown with kudsu. We learned that, in years past, they were called a throwed-away place. The house had become too much work, cost more than they had, or took too much time to maintain, and the owners had just moved out and left it behind.
Sometimes we have people in our life who drain us. They take a lot of work to maintain. They cost us dearly, not always monetarily, but in energy, in time, or emotion. And sometimes we walk away from them. They become throwed-away people in our lives.
Thank God, He never counts the cost to maintain each of us. No matter how needy we are, no matter how decrepit our faith is, or how many times we fail, He will never walk away. He paid for our purchase on the cross, and we will never become throwed away by Him.
In turn, may He give us patience to deal with the people in our lives who are more difficult to maintain. May He give us the strength to love with His love, so that His children are never throwed away.

We recently had the privilege to travel to Mississippi. We spent almost a week exploring the Gulf coast, and enjoying the respite from an Iowa winter. A sobering sight was the damage from Hurricane Katrina still evident everywhere. Empty foundations, lots for sale, tree stumps and abandoned properties were the scars where a community had been wounded. This stalwart oak tree, shaped by the winds of many storms, stands rooted deep in the sandy soil at the very edge of the Gulf. Although houses all around it were destroyed, it continues to grow strong.
Have you been hit by a hurricane? Storms in our life are not avoidable, Jesus confirmed it. "In this world, you will have trouble." John 16:33 So it's not if, but when, the hurricane will hit. When it does, how will you respond? Will you stand firm, being shaped into a thing of beauty by the winds? Or will you allow them to uproot and destroy you?
Jesus not only promised us we would have trouble, he reminded us, "But take heart! I have overcome the world."
God gives us the ultimate victory, so when the storms come, sink your roots deep into Him, hang on, and let Him shape you.

The last week of January blessed us with a wonderful snowfall. The schools were closed, drifts blocked the road, and I loved it.
As soon as it had warmed up to be bearable, I strapped on my new Yukon Charlie snowshoes and Annie the yellow Lab and I set out through the snowy fields for the river. I am still getting the hang of snowshoeing, but about halfway there I knew something wasn't right. I stopped, then walked a few more steps, but my left side was just not moving right. I checked the straps and they were all snugly in place. I looked where I was walking. Nothing had changed there. Finally I lifted up my snowshoe to see underneath it. A tiny twig had become caught between the frame of the snowshoe and my boot. It didn't look like it mattered much, but it had slowed my progress a great deal.
And so it is when I slip into those little bad habits, or sins. The author of Hebrews calls it "the sin which so easily entangles us." We can't always see it, we aren't always aware, we just know our life is a little off balance.
I jerked the stick out of my snowshoe with one mittened hand and tromped merrily on my walk with Annie to the river. May I always be so quick to jerk the sins out of my way, too, so that my walk with God is not hindered.

    The Christmas I was eight or nine, one of my Christmas wishes was to have a sock monkey. We lived in a rural area of Iowa and shopping was limited. My mom was a hard working farmer's wife and did not do much sewing. Years later she told me how she had searched everywhere in the small town where we shopped. There was no sock monkey to be found. She must have been sad to be unable to grant my Christmas wish because the Christmas I was nearly forty, she found this little ornament and gave it to me. 
    "I finally got your sock monkey," she told me.
    A mother's love never stops hoping and dreaming for her children. This Christmas as I hung my sock monkey and the other ornaments, I thought back over the years and how my own children's dreams have changed. I would still do everything in my power to bring joy to my two sons, my daughter, and to their families. 
    But the fleeting happiness of a desired toy is nothing compared with the joy that comes when we know the Savior whose birth we celebrate. Jesus said, "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete."
    So find the sock monkey, or the Ipad or the video game, but remember that only when we bow before the manger, is our joy complete.

Twenty-six years ago today we finalized the adoption of our baby girl, Teresa Joy. She had been ours since she was three days old, this signing of the papers just made everything legal. We were foster parents and when we had the opportunity to give this baby a permanent home, we felt it was God's will for our family. She was beautiful, she was cuddly, she was challenging.
Many years after her adoption, we learned that her impulsive and sometimes negative behaviors were due to fetal alcohol effect. Her birth mom had damaged Teresa's ability to think clearly and act in a responsible manner by drinking while pregnant.
We did the best that we could, getting professional help for Teresa and disciplining her and loving her into adulthood. Her life has not been easy. After leaving our home she has been homeless, involved in drugs, and incarcerated numerous times.
Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! She is my daughter, I love her dearly, and today, I celebrate our family's adoption day!
Love always hopes, and I will never give up the hope that someday my beautiful daughter will be healthy and living in a way that truly honors the God who gave our family a precious gift twenty-six years ago today.