Three Ways to Navigate Difficult Days

                                                                                                             My leg muscles screamed in protest as I gasped for breath and pulled myself upward to the next rest bench on the mountain trail. I promised myself, “Girlfriend, you WILL be in better shape next year!” Can you identify? For several years, our family of four participated in a volksmarch, a German term for people’s walk. Beginning at the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail near Helen, Georgia, we walked only five kilometers, but with steep inclines, the distance seemed much further. At the finish line, with relief and perspiration, we accepted our medals as family tradition mementos.…

Storing Treasure: Thoughts from a Jewelry Box and Psalm 119

  Once my daughter and nieces claimed their favorites of my mother’s rings, the dark green satin-and-velvet-lined jewelry boxes that sat on Mama’s dresser for decades held only valued memories and a collection of inexpensive pieces. When I study the contents of the jewelry boxes, I recall bits of Mama’s well-lived life and evidence of the values she held dear. You can tell a lot about a person by the things they keep. Among bracelets, necklaces, and earbobs (as she called them), I found my brother’s Scout medals and my 4-H pin, as well as a lapel pin I made…