Sunday Reflection: The Kiss

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One the wall of our bedroom is a beautiful portrait taken by a well known photographer.  The photo is black and white then recolorized to highlight certain aspects of the portrait. The picture is of Bill and me. In the photo you can’t see our faces because I am wearing a hat, but you can tell, it was a kiss of love. How? In the photo, I am standing on my tippie toes reaching up to give Bill a kiss. That peck was apparently was so amazing that it caused Bill to rock back on his heels. (I think this…

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Finding God’s Purpose

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By Dianne Barker “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain” (Psalm 127:1NIV). Got it. Unless the Lord does it, our best efforts will fail. Synonyms for “vain” are ineffective, hopeless, unsuccessful, unproductive, futile, useless, worthless. Why would anyone pursue such a life? Who gets up in the morning desiring your day’s work be ineffective, unsuccessful, unproductive, futile, useless, worthless? We’re off and running, determined to achieve something significant. But if we’re trusting in our own wisdom and strength, our best efforts will be…

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Reflect, Refocus, Recharge

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Greetings from Jan! Today I’m busy packing and making preparations for the Mount Hermon Writer’s Conference where I’ll be teaching a Head Start Mentoring Clinic and running the manuscript retrieval process for editors, critiquers, and writers. One of my other delightful tasks for the week will be to give a workshop for the writers about midway through our time there. We will stop to take a few deep breaths. We’ll step away from the busyness of the conference into God’s waiting arms to catch a glimpse of his hand in all our circumstances. In that place with him, we’ll reflect, refocus, and rechage. As our spirits quiet,…

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