Apr
22
2025

The Day After

This poem was originally published on April 1, 2013. I have been thinking about these questions that I asked twelve years ago. The questions are still important to ask and more important to answer.

What do you do the day after?
The day after the day that He rose?
What do you do to remember?
What do you do so others may know?

Is there still awe in your countenance?
As you answer, He is risen indeed.
Is there amazement and joy in your heart,
As the Easter story you read?

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Apr
15
2025

Blast Off Hug

It was another grandchild weekend.
My son and two of my granddaughters came for a long weekend.
My daughter-in-love was away with her cousins for the weekend.
My house looked as it did when my children were young.

“Grandma’s toys” were all over the floor.
It doesn’t matter that their own Daddy played with these same toys.
To them, they are Grandma’s toys and that’s all that matters.
I like seeing the toys get new life.

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Apr
8
2025

Watching And Waiting

Posted in Faith | 2 Comments

It was one of those gray days.
Misty rain changed to actual raindrops without warning.
No need for sunglasses.
No need for the visor to be pulled down as I drove around doing errands.

I pulled into the parking lot of my natural pharmacy.
The building used to be an old bank; even the vault is still there.
I tend to park in the same general area.
I noticed it as I pulled towards the parking space.

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Apr
1
2025

A Little Bit Of Green

Posted in Heaven | Leave a comment

The deer ate our plants.
Not all  the plants, mind you.
But many of them.
Some are plants the deer have never eaten before.

My husband sprinkles natural deer repellent on the plants with a paintbrush.
He dips the brush in the liquid and shakes the brush on the plants and shrubs.
The repellent usually works quite well.
However, not this year.

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Mar
25
2025

Singing Off Key

Posted in Worship | 2 Comments

I settled myself down to get ready for worship.
I knew that within minutes, the singing would begin.
For the next thirty minutes, songs would be sung that would point my heart towards Jesus.
I am grateful to the ones who play their instruments and use their voices to lead us in worship.

There are some who raise their hands as they sing.
There are some who sway just a bit along to the music.
There have even been times when I have seen worship songs signed for those who are deaf.
There are some who never sing at all.

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Mar
18
2025

The Thing About Age

St. Patrick’s Day is my husband’s birthday.
After realizing his last name is Gallagher, the inevitable question is asked.
Why isn’t your name, Patrick?
The answer, that he has given so many times, is given once again.

Because my brother is named Patrick! He says with the same inflection.
My husband is the fifth of eight children.
The brother born before him was named, Patrick.
Had his mother known she would have a son on St. Patrick’s Day…

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Mar
11
2025

Changing The Clocks

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I was at a conference this past weekend.
It was so nice to get away.
It was so refreshing to be around others who love art, music, and literature.
I was in my element, as the saying goes.

It was in my favorite place with Amish buggies.
I was in the city, with its Central Market, art galleries, and bookstores.
I parked my car in the hotel parking garage and walked wherever I needed to go.
I people-watched outside and fed my soul inside.

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Mar
4
2025

God’s Light Bulb

My husband has an engineer brain.
Anyone who knows an engineer, or is married to one, knows that is a true statement.
They have a different way of thinking.
They are trained to problem solve and that is what they do.

One often hears about left brain vs. right brain.
Left brain is: logic and reasoning, mathematics, and sequential thinking.
Right brain is: creativity and imagination, spatial awareness, and artistic abilities.
It is thought that people are either/or but in reality both sides work together in a complex brain.

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Feb
25
2025

Lessons From A Snowstorm

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My husband just returned home from the Dominican Republic.
He had been there for sixteen days.
He takes a trip like this each year to build homes for people.
He has been all over the world.

He was on a team of fourteen people, eight of whom he had built with before.
Many are retired, like him, and enjoy giving of their time and energy to help others.
The block house was completed in a weeks time.
To the family, their new home was palatial, compared to where they were living before.

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Feb
18
2025

Out For Breakfast

Posted in Prayer | 2 Comments

I went to breakfast with a friend this morning.
How wonderful to have time, uninterrupted time, to sit and talk.
We ordered our omelettes and sat for two hours and caught up.
There are so many things to say to this friend, my prayer partner of many years.

We saw people we knew in the restaurant.
They tucked us in a booth in the back, which was perfect for conversation.
This restaurant, known for its breakfast and lunch, was filled with people.
It was a windy day and it seemed that everyone came in to get warm from the cold.

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