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My new friend Joyce told me she can’t get used to being alone. Her husband passed away, with no warning, four years ago. She has children, grandchildren, and friends, but loneliness is her constant companion.
If we live long enough, most of us will have at least one or more seasons of being alone. I remember my first New Year’s Eve as a single mom. While my four-year-old slept, I cleaned house, cried, and listened to Christian radio. On the radio, I heard a woman say her life changed forever when she began keeping a gratitude journal.
I began mine that lonely night, in 1987, as it rolled into becoming 1988. Since then, I’ve started a new gratitude journal every year. It has changed my life, too. Instead of my natural inclination to be a “glass half empty” kind of person, I began to change deep inside. As I watched for blessings, I began to notice them.
One thing I wrote down that night has always stayed in my memory. It was the look on my son Michael’s face as he woke on Christmas morning. Wearing his blue flannel Charlie Brown pajamas, he came into the living room rubbing his sleepy eyes to see what he’d find under the tree. He had, and continues to have, a dad who adores him and has always been there for us, even though married to someone else. It took me several more years to appreciate that blessing.
My friend Johnna told me earlier this year that she tries to remember what she read about hummingbirds and vultures—Hummingbirds spend every day looking for something sweet, and they find it.
Vultures, though, search for something dead or dying. They find what they’re looking for, too. Our world is full of death, dying, and evil. Suffering, loneliness and bitterness are all around us. When I don’t look to the Light, the darkness can feel oppressive.
Lord, help us be like hummingbirds in this new decade, searching for something sweet. Help us provide something sweet in the lives of each person whose path we cross. Even if they never know we prayed for them, use our prayers and acts of kindness to sweeten their lives. Show them You want to become their perfect Lover and Friend. Use us, as You change their loneliness into the abundant life only You can give.
The Treasure
2/23/2021 9:25:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
(Don’t) Follow Your Heart?
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What’s that smell?
1/27/2021 10:40:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
This Moment
1/14/2021 8:35:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Do your curls, girls!
1/6/2021 10:17:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Forgotten Holiday Promise
12/10/2020 7:40:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
The Flea and the Cosmos
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Who’s Driving Me?
11/12/2020 10:13:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Safe and Sound
6/24/2020 1:40:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Patience
2/27/2020 2:07:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Holiday Loneliness?
12/30/2019 9:10:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Haunted? What a Shame.
10/30/2019 1:10:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
What Are We Celebrating?
7/3/2019 3:40:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Where’s The Remote?
6/24/2019 8:08:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Post-Hurricane Prayer
1/17/2019 8:45:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Does God Celebrate?
12/12/2018 1:35:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
What For?
10/5/2018 9:54:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Birthright?
9/1/2018 6:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Exclamation Points
8/20/2018 2:20:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Shaking?
7/26/2018 4:45:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Radiance, Not Wrinkles
11/21/2017 1:00:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Walkin' and Talkin'
9/22/2017 7:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Touches
9/8/2017 10:15:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
The Worry List
7/17/2017 5:28:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Unanswered prayer?
5/21/2017 7:30:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Who's Your First Love?
4/9/2017 6:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Worse Than Sickness
12/6/2016 7:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
The Highest Price
11/28/2016 2:16:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
No Perfect Christmas
11/21/2016 2:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Sacrificing Thanks
11/14/2016 2:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
The Director
11/7/2016 3:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Watching Dead People
10/31/2016 2:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Against The Goad
10/24/2016 5:45:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Eating His Words
10/17/2016 2:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Glory
10/9/2016 3:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
What Does The Future Hold?
10/4/2016 3:00:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
More Sweetness
9/27/2016 8:59:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Delicious Cycle Revisited
9/20/2016 7:09:58 AM by: Cathy Everitt
A Delicious Cycle
9/13/2016 12:00:01 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Winning and Losing
9/6/2016 12:00:01 AM by: Cathy Everitt
When I lose, I win
8/30/2016 12:00:01 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Sunrise
8/23/2016 12:00:01 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Impressions of Amsterdam
8/16/2016 7:07:48 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Sing 'Til I'm Satisfied
8/8/2016 12:00:01 AM by: Cathy Everitt
Ever-Increasing
7/26/2016 12:12:19 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Corrie
7/11/2016 1:28:43 PM by: Cathy Everitt
Favorites?
6/28/2016 10:27:00 AM by: Cathy Everitt
I love reminders from these guys...
6/14/2016 12:00:01 AM by: Cathy Everitt
How Can I Help?
6/7/2016 1:43:00 PM by: Cathy Everitt
A Perfect Flower
5/31/2016 by: Cathy Everitt
