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August 28, 2025

7 Late Summer Wellness Tips

The nights and days are cooler. Darkness comes earlier. The sky looks like fall. I even saw some leaves in Michigan that had turned brilliant red. How

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Blog
August 21, 2025

What to Do with All That Zucchini

Yesterday, my friend Lisa presented me with a zucchini that looked as though it had taken growth hormones. It was gigantic! She told me that she grate

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Food, Fun, Health
August 14, 2025

Echoes of Summer

Can you feel the shift? The days are steamy–yet the calendar is getting a bit crowded with commitments that pair better with the cooler days of

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Food, Fun, Health
August 7, 2025

August Anxiety. Sunscreen vs. School Bells

This time of year, I feel a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, summer is in full swing. The flowers are thriving, temperatures still soar, and ther

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Family, Health, Personal Development
July 30, 2025

Recharging After Your Vacation

Have you ever returned home from a vacation and thought to yourself, “Gee, I could use a vacation.”? I know I have. It seems wrong. We have such a

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Food, Health
July 20, 2025

Traveler’s Guide to Food and Fitness

Summer vacations. I’ve always been a big fan of vacations any time of year. They are SO FUN, and people are usually very nice to you when you’re a

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Food, Fun, Health
July 16, 2025

The Peach vs. Nectarine Debate

I love them both. Lately I’ve been wondering about their slight differences, which sent me down the rabbit hole of looking into their unique charact

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Food, Health
July 9, 2025

The Dog Days of Summer

How often I’ve heard this phrase, yet never knew that Dog Days were official. Turns out, the Dog Days of Summer run from July 3 to August 11. This t

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Food, Fun, Health
July 3, 2025

Can Bananas Ruin Your Berry Smoothie?

This past week I received an email with this question: “I recently read an article about bananas reducing the nutrition of the berries in a smoothie

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Food, Health
June 26, 2025

Hot Weather, Cool Tips

Lots of ideas swirling around in my head today—to which Mr. Non-Compliant would say, “Uh Oh!” Since I couldn’t decide on one topic, thought I&

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Food, Health

When You are Swallowed by Fog…

February 21, 2013
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Hope, Loss, Spiritual

And you cannot see.  Anything.  Dense, thick, dark fog surrounds you and yes, you feel like you have been swallowed.  Now what?  Fear, anxiety, anger, impatience.  The list goes on. 

The fog may come as illness, depression, addiction, death, abandonment.  We all have been swallowed at one time or another, and sometimes again and again, in different ways.  We wonder, how long will it last?  Will I ever be able to see clearly again?  And if and when I do, when will the fog return?  It is a vicious cycle of despair…unless.

Unless, you find a light!  It may be dim at first, but it brightens.  The light may be a friend who listens in the midst of your fog, an answer to prayer, a stranger who smiles, a song that uplifts, a word of encouragement and praise.  There is plenty of light to clear the fog.

We share so much.  We all experience fog sometime.  We all are light…if we choose to be so.  When we are swallowed by fog, we must have a foundation of trust to know that light will come.  When we are the light, we must choose to shine as brightly as possible, knowing that it is our time to help others through their fog.  And so the cycle repeats.  That is a constant of life.  Thank you to all who have been my light!  My deep gratitude enables me to be light today.  Shine with me, friends! 

“Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”  Matthew 5:16 NAB

 

When the Gifts We Receive are not the Gifts We Desire

February 11, 2013
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Spiritual

 

Have you heard the song that goes, “You can’t always get what you want, but you get what you need?”  If not, you have missed out on a classic by The Rolling Stones.  Those specific lyrics apply to so much in life.  Does it not seem that we always want more or different or better?  Yet, by whose standards? 

We are each given a specific set of talents or gifts.  Those gifts are not something we had a special request for, we were just born with them.  For example, there are those who can sing with seemingly no effort…and stay on key to boot!  Others have engineered ways for us to reach the moon and beyond.  Neither of those gifts have I been blessed with, at least if I have, they have not yet been revealed! 

So, what is the point?  I have been blessed with other gifts, gifts that I keep discovering as time passes.  Some were revealed to me at an early age, like my ability to create delicious concoctions in the kitchen.  Others are a work in progress.  The point is, I find my joy in using the gifts that have been given me.  I find great challenge in cultivating gifts that are not innately mine. 

As I celebrate another year of life, I realize that the best use of the time I have left here on earth is to polish those gifts I have been given.  I am to use those gifts to bring light to the darkness that envelops others.  I am called to help others shine in the light of their gifts.  The challenge is for you to do the same.  After all, we can still sing along…  

“Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  1 Peter 4:10 NIV 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Got Goals?

January 3, 2013
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Hope, Personal Development

We spoke today of goals for 2013.  Since the discussion occurred in the midst of a networking group of professionals, we chose primarily our business goals.  Thinking about setting my life in a forward motion based on some pre-set ideas and “goals” feels a bit intimidating…at least today.

The discussion was interesting, as some had clear, written, measurable thoughts on the subject.  Others had abstract, but good, ideas on some basic fundamentals of business.  A few had written goals for each area of life, but only shared the applicable ones with the group.  I found myself somewhere in the middle of the pack.  My thoughts have not yet connected with the calendar.  I feel as though I am already behind in the game of 2013.

I am not alone.  As we listened and read of the fiscal cliff in recent days, we realize that procrastination is a common thread that binds us together.  Lesson observed and learned.  “Do it now” is a mantra that would serve me well.

And so I proceed on day 3 of this year that lies ahead.  There is much to be learned, as I continually have more questions than answers.  Oh, to be in my twenties again, when I knew everything!  Today, I will enjoy cooking dinner for my family.  I will laugh my way through zumba.  I shall be grateful for one more day to try to figure out the path that lies before me.

Blessings to you~

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

 

 

 

 

 

Lost in the Garden

June 18, 2012
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Hope, In the Garden, Spiritual

Why is it the weeds always grow better than the vegetables or the flowers?  I find myself in my small vegetable garden these days, searching for the tomato and pepper plants which are lost among the weeds.  After digging around for what seems like days, I am finally able to identify the good from the bad.  Of course, I manage to uproot a healthy tomato plant in the process.  I am in hopes that my replanting efforts are fruitful, so to speak.

My life feels the same way.  Lost in the duties of each day is my calling, my purpose for existence.  The BIG picture reason for why I am still here.  Every once in awhile, I think I have it all figured out and realize God has a different idea.  So what do I do?  Wait.  Work the tasks at hand each day to see where it all leads, trust, pray.  And wait.  I believe I have plenty of patience at this point in my life and do not need any more lessons in that department.  Still, I wait.

Do any of us ever figure it out, really?   As my son would say, that is a rhetorical question.  And no, I don’t think we ever do.  It just feels good to ask.  So, since it is the growing season here in Indiana, my garden grows.  My weeds grow faster.  Since God implemented the growth of the plants and has that all together, I guess I can rest in the fact that He will grow me at the proper rate as well.  My job is to accept that fact peacefully, and …wait.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  Jeremiah 29:11  NIV

 

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