Sunday Inspiration: “Amateurs sit and wait…”
“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.” -Stephen King I enthusiastically agree that to be a serious writer you can’t passively sit back and wait for ideas to fall into your lap. Our calling is to go out and grab inspiration by the horns. I…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: New Year’s Resolutions
“New Year’s Resolutions are a bit like babies: They’re fun to make but really difficult to maintain.” Anonymous I confess that I’m skeptical about making new year’s resolutions because they are so much easier to make than to maintain. But I do believe that setting realistic goals, whether it’s at the new year or any other…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: The Greatest Light
“Hidden in the deepest darkness is the greatest light. It’s our job to light up a world of darkness, to reflect God’s light in this world.” -Rabbi Reuven Wolf Hanukkah begins this evening and ends on the evening of December 30 this year. I picked this quote because it honors Hanukkah, but I…
Read MoreThe Twelve Books of Christmas Giveaway
What Twelve Books of Christmas Giveaway? Those of you who subscribe to my “almost monthly” newsletter know that yesterday was the final day to submit an entry for the Twelve Books of Christmas Giveaway. Random.org selected winners today and now the books on on their way to the post office via Proman. All winners have…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Loving Others
“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” -Bob Hope Yes, we could and should love others every day of the year, but this Christmas I would like to place love on the top…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Your Gift
“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” –Pablo Picasso In this season of giving I can’t help but feel anxiety and tension about what to give to whom and how much to give to how many — not to mention what I want for…
Read MoreSetting: Carolers, Snowmen, Gingerbread? How Do You Know It’s Christmas?
I’ll confess I’m doing something I shouldn’t below. The “shouldn’t,” of course? Use this photo, which is blurry and certainly not professional. I snapped it for fun one day in October using my iPad. So what does it say about me and this blog, and why am I including it? The Background: This year we…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: St. Andrew’s Day Blessing
Did you know that yesterday was St. Andrew’s Day, which is an official national holiday in Scotland? In case you’re wondering, Saint Andrew is represented in the New Testament to be the disciple who introduced his brother, the Apostle Peter, to Jesus. So whether you have Scottish blood or not, whether the bagpipes make you tear…
Read MoreHappy Thanksgiving and Holiday Trivia To Ponder
Here’s a little holiday trivia to make tomorrow more fun. Did you know? Canned cranberry jelly is the least popular traditional Thanksgiving dish. Detractors say when it’s served right out of the can, it reminds them of dog food. Bow wow. Green bean casserole made with mushroom soup and canned onion rings is the second…
Read MoreSunday Inspiration: Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. It turns problems into gifts, failures into successes, the unexpected into…
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