Mornings with Jesus

WHEN I WAS A CHILD, my family would spend every Easter with my grandparents in Philadelphia. Each trip was filled with fresh adventures and new activities. We visited local landmarks; we went to church; we talked; we laughed; and we decorated for Eas

I ARRIVED BRIGHT AND EARLY at the DMV with a stack of papers, ready to renew my driver’s license. Because of new regulations, I needed my passport, my old license, a property tax statement, and my social security card. My turn to approach the counter

WHILE IN THE MIDDLE EAST, I met a man who’d been tortured by ISIS for studying social justice and human rights. One night in prison, he prayed, God, if You exist, then save me. A short time later, bombs fell on the prison. The attack enabled my new f

I FEED MY CAT TOMMY on the porch. He considers a half-full bowl unacceptable and scorns it, so I was surprised to find it empty one night. Not a crumb remained. I thought through possibilities—raccoons, skunks, a loose dog? But there was no evidence

SOMETIMES LOVE MEANS SHAVING YOUR head. At age eight, my grandson Roman faced a serious surgery. When he learned that a strip of his hair from one ear to the other would have to be shaved, Roman said, “Nope, it’s got to be all my hair or none.” His d

MY HUSBAND, KEVIN, AND I exchanged heated words twice this week. Wait, I may as well tell it straight—we argued. Although we’ve enjoyed a happy marriage for decades, our different outlooks on everything from taking risks to treating a cold sometimes

I REGULARLY ATTEND AL-ANON FAMILY meetings, a group dedicated to helping family members of alcoholics. At a recent meeting the topic was step 7, “Humbly ask Him to remove our shortcomings.” My “Him” is Jesus who died, not only to take away my shortco

I CRADLED THE BREAD CUBE and tiny cup of juice in my hands and bowed my head. Due to travel and illness, it seemed a long while since I’d been at my church on a Communion Sunday. I wanted to heed Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27 not to partake i

MY KIDS HAVE HINTED I’M a bit compulsive. No way! I just thrive on my routine. Every weekday morning after devotions with my husband and a power breakfast of boiled eggs and wheat toast, I don my riding gear and hop on my bike. I ride for thirty minu

A HIGH ENERGY TYPE A person, most of my life I’ve been very disciplined, structured, and motivated. Like all virtues, it has a flipside. While I’ve enjoyed (and shared) tangible benefits from my manic methods, it’s also cost me and others peace and p

AFTER WAITING NINE YEARS TO use my passport—for more than just a hop across the border into Canada—I took great joy presenting it to the customs agent in Copenhagen, Denmark. My daughter’s training for her job kept us in Denmark for more than a month

MARRYING LATER IN LIFE, I was thrust into a new role—stepmom to two tall, lovely teenagers. When we first met years before, the question in my heart was, Will they like me? Once I married their dad, it became, Do they still like me? Can I do this? Al

“I HOPE BILL FROM THE Optimists Club invites me to judge their youth speech contest again this year,” I told my husband, Kevin. He smiled. I’m sure he remembered how much I enjoyed the experience. I told him, a little embarrassed, how associating wit

IT’S BEEN A PARTICULARLY DIFFICULT week. I have some tough decisions looming, and even though I’ve prayed and sought direction, I haven’t found any peace yet. On top of that, I’m experiencing stress at home that can be described in one word: teenager

LAST SUNDAY, AS I HEADED across the parking lot after church, a woman I hadn’t seen for a while walked ahead of me. I caught up and asked the too-traditional question, “How are you doing?” She answered, “Great . . . okay, there’s more behind that res

I REMEMBER MY FIRST TRY at evangelizing. It was at a church event held near a local park. We were told to approach strangers in pairs, tell them the Good News, and invite them to church. As a new believer, this was very tough for me. I was tongue tie

ON THE TELEVISION SHOW LET’S Make a Deal, the host invites audience members to make transactions. For instance, he hands someone a thousand dollars and then presents her with a choice: “Do you want to keep it or trade it for what’s hidden behind the

WHEN A LOVED ONE WAS diagnosed with a serious illness, I jumped into action: appointments with social workers, doctors, palliative care nurses; arranging help; making lists of all the recommendations, medications, and plans from the various specialis

THE THING I DO BEST is multitasking. One afternoon, I decided to combine my exercise bike ride with a trip to the mailbox. As luck would have it, I’d gotten a package—a long but lightweight box. No problem! I’d center the package across my handlebars

I’M IN AWE OF THE talented people who take a concept or business and create a fitting logo. With simple art, design, and lettering, a logo becomes a symbol of the company or idea. The public is reminded what the business represents when it sees the l

I WILL DO ALMOST ANYTHING to avoid cleaning my house. Watch reruns of stupid TV shows. Alphabetize my spices. Even peruse online sites that sell super-duper cleaning gadgets. My dust never settles into bunnies but rather into elephants. Yet I’m alway

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU’VE BEEN trying to birth? A personal goal, a ministry, a business, a baby? Whatever that burning desire is, if it lines up with the Word of God, be assured that Jesus gave you the strength to conceive it and will see you through

“DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN ONE WORD,” the keynote speaker suggested. “Don’t overthink it. Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind. Make it relate to something you’d like to pass on to others. Something I’d like to pass on to others? So many optio

HE’S BACK! OLD PERSISTENT GRAY Cat. He turns up every morning and every evening for me to feed him. His piercing meow demands my attention, and if I don’t respond immediately, he climbs up the back door. I don’t know whose cat he is or if he really b

MY CHILDHOOD WAS DIFFICULT. MY parents were remarkable people who struggled with substance abuse, mental illness, and their own dysfunctional histories. Our home was chaotic and emotionally unsafe. Partly because of my Italian family’s expectations a

I COUNSEL OTHERS TO CARE for their feet because healthy feet are vital for a healthy lifestyle. When our feet hurt, it harms our whole body. I know because I’ve had four foot surgeries from neuroma, a painful pinched nerve. Most women get it from yea

WE LIVE NEXT DOOR TO the church we pastor. When our mid-western weather is either too muggy or frigid to walk outside, we exercise in the sanctuary. Three days ago, a visitor joined us. My husband, Kevin, and I had barely started walking when we hear

I USED TO BE OBSESSED with researching online reviews before making a purchase. After a while, I found they made me a little crazy. Sometimes reviews say exactly the opposite about the same item: “This vacuum has great suction” and “This vacuum has n

ONE EVENING ON A VACATION in Egypt, my husband and I went for a walk by the Nile River. Children played while adults relaxed under palm trees. It was a lovely, festive sight. As Stone and I made our way down steps from the road to the riverside, we c

ON PALM SUNDAY, JESUS ENTERED Jerusalem with great celebration. Oddly, to me at least, He headed straight to the temple, driving out money changers and quoting Scripture as He capsized tables. Blind and lame people came in next, and He healed them al

SO MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN about Holy Week. Some of it is unusual, but a lot is beautiful. Recently, I’ve studied by reading, looking at calendars, and trying to piece together gospel accounts to figure out what Jesus did every day that week leading up

WEDNESDAY OF HOLY WEEK IS less detailed in the Gospels than some of the other days, but what we are privy to is a powerful scene that becomes a metaphor for what will happen on the cross—a terrible and beautiful thing. We are told that Jesus spent ti

WHEN MY DAUGHTER STELLA WAS a little girl, she finally cleared up something about communion that I never quite understood. Communion had always seemed so formal, even impersonal. It was a ritual I respected greatly but didn’t quite understand. We wer

THIS VERSE FROM MATTHEW TELLS us all we know about Holy Saturday. Pilate posted a guard at the tomb at the request of the Pharisees. The Bible doesn’t tell us anything else. As a writer, Saturday is like a great pause for me. It’s a line break on a p

AS I CONTEMPLATED HOLY WEEK, I forced myself to walk slowly through Good Friday and think about it’s meaning. The first time it’s called good—or “guode” in old English—is in a text from the 1200s. The Baltimore Catechism from 1885 says it’s because J

EVERY EASTER AT THE END of the church service, our congregation joins in singing Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus.” I love the power of all our voices raised in full-throated praise. However, it’s not easy music. I’ve always been a soprano, but each year

EARLY THIS MORNING I OPENED my Bible and continued my reading in Matthew 7. I zipped by verse 12 since it’s so familiar. Like many people, the Golden Rule was one of the first verses and biblical principles I had learned as a child. Besides, I assume

MATTHEW TELLS US THAT JESUS’S first words after rising from the dead were, “Hello. Do not be afraid.” That seems significant to me as a person who tends toward fear. I’m only brave if courage means you do stuff even if you’re scared. I do almost ever

YESTERDAY, MY FRIEND MARIE FRANCE and I were driving in the car together. We have been friends since college. We are a lot alike. We love Jesus. We love to laugh and have fun. We are also perfectionists. Perfectionism is not the best commonality. Mar

MY CAT IVY IS TERRIFIED of our new rescue kitty, Julie. Though Julie is geriatric and small, the younger one can’t bear her. Ivy’s afraid to share me with this sweet old girl, as if she thinks I can’t love them both. Now Ivy won’t come into the house

ONLINE, I FOUND A PHOTO of a sign that read: “Welcome to Joyville.” Imagine a vacation in Joyville, Maine. Ideal, right? A destination that has the Atlantic Ocean, lighthouses, and lobster. Did I mention lobster? What must it be like to be a permanen

HIKING THROUGH A GROVE OF “old-growth” trees, the forest loomed, a cool haven. I heard the brook before I saw it, the soft murmur drawing me closer as it cascaded downhill. The water’s course must have shifted during the previous winter’s storms, for

“WORD OF THE YEAR” IS a popular practice these days. With God’s help, you choose a word for the upcoming year, and then focus on living that word for the next twelve months. This year I chose the word “rest.” But a few months into the year I started

SINCE I’VE CUT DOWN ON carbs, I don’t need to buy bread as often as I used to. This is a good thing—most of the time. Yesterday, I decided to have a sandwich for lunch. Thankfully, I found two slices left in the bread box. Unfortunately, both had gre

WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE a simple project. Famous last words, as they say. Convert the front porch into a four-season room. How hard could that be? We wanted to create a reading room, a comfortable place to reclaim quiet and another hangout location wh

LIVING ON A SAILBOAT ALLOWS me to escape busy schedules and noise a couple of times each year. One of my favorite destinations is Wallace Island. It’s a provincial park with a protected cove for safe anchorage. It also hosts hiking paths so we can ex

MY HUSBAND AND I ENJOY biking, and we regularly bike up a quiet road winding through a canyon near our home. One day we found a rock outcropping with a litter of baby foxes romping around. We biked down. I grabbed my camera and rode up to the spot. I

“I FEEL LIKE CRYING, BUT I rarely let myself,” I told my friends Dee and Beth as we chatted over sandwiches. The pressures of managing a ministry, caring for Mom, and helping our daughter raise three teens overwhelmed me. Ever since I’d heard a sermo

WHEN I RECEIVED SOME UNWELCOME news, I knew life would go on, but it would be harder. My heart ached. That weekend, my husband drove me to the mountains so I could find peace. We hiked through an old forest, rich with the scent of cedar. Birds chatte

FRIENDS, MAY I CONFESS TO you that I used to hate baseball and groaned when my oldest son decided to play? Never into sports myself, I reluctantly embraced my son’s natural athleticism, but baseball made me want to nap on the bleachers. Games seemed

THE IDEA DIDN’T ORIGINATE WITH him, but actor Matthew McConaughey’s perspective on joy was refreshing to discover on a YouTube video. He nailed it when he said that happiness is a response to what’s happening to and around us, but joy comes from with

WE ALL WANT TO BE heard. Talk shows on every channel every single day affirm that voicing our opinions is a legitimate pastime. The problem with all that talking is that we aren’t usually listening. On these same talk shows, the cohosts routinely int

AS A NEW BEEKEEPER, I am often awestruck because the bee-colony ecosystem is amazing! For example, one of my hives recently, unexplainably, lost its queen. Without a queen, the colony would die. Knowing this, the bees created queen cells, fed the lar

MY GRANDSON WINSTON CAME RUNNING through the back door with distressing news: “Honey (my grandma name), Mama, come quick! A baby bird fell out of its nest, and it’s on the ground!” My daughter Melissa and I followed Winston into the backyard. Sure en

I HAVE THREE GIANT MAN-SIZED children living at my house right now. Jack is eighteen. Will is sixteen. Addison is thirteen. Addie’s shoe size matches his age. These boys are taller than my husband, Scott, and me. Scott blames me for their growth beca

JESUS TEACHES THAT YOU AND I are like farmers. One of our roles is to sow seeds. Most often we do it without even realizing it. For instance, a mother sows seeds by caring for her home and for little people as she goes about her normal routines. Thos

THIS PAST YEAR, MY PRAYER life has taken a remarkable turn with profound impact on my life. I hope it shows in these pages. I’ve always prayed. Well, before I knew Jesus, I prayed with fervent expectation that God heard me, even after my prayers were

THE LORD SENT ELIJAH TO safety in an isolated area (1 Kings 17:2–6). David, a man after God’s own heart, spent years in solo worship as he tended sheep. Jesus also sought solitude with the Father as He fasted and prayed in the wilderness. Each one of

THERE IS SO MUCH MORE Jesus wants to do in the earth through us, but as a body we struggle with unbelief. In the context of today’s Scripture verse, Jesus was trying to preach and heal people in His hometown of Nazareth, but they wouldn’t receive Him

A RECENT PROJECT AT OUR house has tested our mettle as a couple, as I’ve heard is true for most remodeling projects. I now straighten crooked pictures in the dentist’s waiting room and notice if a floor is an inch lower on one side of the room than t

AS MY HUSBAND AND I were home shopping, we found some land with a spectacular view of the mountains that can be subdivided into two building lots. It’s too much for us to do alone, so we’ve been talking with a couple who have had a longtime dream of

THE HAND-LETTERED SIGN SAID: “12-YEAR old female cat, declawed, free to a good home.” Hmmm. Why would someone who’d had a cat for twelve years want to give her up? Had the cat grown mean? Was the owner ill and no longer able to care for her? It was a

Every attempt has been made to credit the sources of copyrighted material used in this book. If any such acknowledgment has been inadvertently omitted or miscredited, receipt of such information would be appreciated. Scripture quotations marked (AMP

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Edward Grinnan MORNINGS WITH JESUS EDITOR Janet Talbert CONTRIBUTORS Susanna Foth Aughtmon, Jeannie Blackmer, Isabella Campolattaro, Pat Butler Dyson, Gwen Ford Faulkenberry, Grace Fox, Heidi Gaul, Sharon Hinck, Pamela Toussaint