"7" Minutes Alone with God

You do not know what will happen tomorrow.  For what is your life? It is just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away   (James 4:14) Good health is a fragile gift which we generally take for granted until it is taken away.  And how quickly that can happen.  A lump, a growth, a bad lab report, a stroke, heart attack or dementia.  An accident, surgery, broken bone or other debilitating conditions can occur at any moment, robbing us of the quality of life we have known.   Few families have been spared the heartache associated with diminished health.  When this occurs, plans, hopes, and desires becomes secondary.  Matters previously considered important become immaterial.  Time, money and energy must be diligently guarded.  Strength, in its limited supply, must be conserved and used wisely lest there not be enough for vital functions. Success is measured in smaller calibrations so that completion of one ste...

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift On my dresser sets a small package, gift-wrapped in Christmas paper, and with it, a red envelope with my name on it.  They don’t look out of place now with Christmas just around the corner, but they hadn’t seemed to belong there during the past 6 months. They were given to me by a friend at a retreat we were both attending in the spring.  Embarrassed, she handed them to me with the explanation that it was a thank you gift for my being the guest speaker at a ladies’ event at her church last Christmas. She had forgotten to give it to me that day. Back home after the event, she set it on her kitchen counter with the intention of mailing it to me. She kept forgetting it as the days went by, until her granddaughters questioned her about it, it and she decided to put it away until after the holidays. The longer it went, the more embarrassed she became until she finally decided to give it to me in person, along with an apology. ...