I had just brought my wife home from a cancer operation when a snowstorm hit. I’m in my late 80s and have a bad back, so shoveling the driveway was pressing...

For years, my parents owned a small cottage on the Oregon coast. It was a wonderful retreat and the perfect place to spend summers. But one particularly rough winter, an extreme...

It can be a terrifying feeling to lose your bearings and come to the realization that you are lost. As a young teen at scout camp, the leaders would remind us...

One Sunday, the lay youth leader at church had the children act out a scene from an old TV show. The moral of the lesson was that each of us has...

When I was in junior high school, I played the trumpet. I can vividly remember trying to learn how to play. It took a lot of air! When I look back...

I recently learned about “glimmers,” which are small moments in the day that make us feel joy, peace, and gratitude. The more we train our brains to be on the lookout...

My two young grandchildren arrived three days before Christmas to celebrate the holiday at my house. In the dining room, I had set out a decades-old nativity scene, except I left...

As evening approached, my spirit and eyelids drooped as the hurry and blur of holiday preparations took their toll. I had been joyfully anticipating the Christmas Eve candlelight service at my...

After nearly 100 years, the beautiful stained-glass windows in our church needed repair. Plywood panels temporarily fill the empty spaces, and our sanctuary is much dimmer now. We’re not sure how...

Sometimes I ask myself, What will be the last words people hear from me? The last words I heard from my cousin Javier were, “Take care of yourself, dear.” He died...