Jewels 2020

Like awakening after a long illness to find your health stole back in while you slept, your sorrow, in its time, will retreat, and the

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer. I know I am but summer to your heart,

Last year it took me 7 hours and 2 minutes to finish the Chicago Marathon. That’s 422 minutes. I could have watched 3 full length

Write a letter. Address it to those you love. Put into this letter everything life has taught you: What you learned from childhood, your education.

Each step of our journey leaves an indelible mark on our souls. The challenges you have been facing have forced you to grow in ways

‘Tis a fearful thing to love what death can touch. A fearful thing to love, to hope, to dream, to be – to be, And

There isn’t a right answer. There just isn’t. The game show where the bells ring and the points go up and the confetti falls because

The great thing about the world of the spirit is that gravity doesn’t apply. Inertia can be overcome. Our secular culture teaches us to focus

I’ve learned the difference between being purposeful about an issue and being self-righteous about it. I have been self-righteous about too many things in my

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habit. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch

On My Eventual Death… I Scientists say our sun will burn out in five billion years; all life on earth that ever was, gone. With

Let’s be honest. The world doesn’t always welcome us. Sometimes, it’s up to us to find our own way to welcome. I grew up in

The instructor filled an empty jar with rocks. “Is it full?” Then he poured a pitcher of pebbles into the jar. “Full now?” Next he

If I could tell you just the way things will unfold from day to day If I could make this go away How would it

The purpose of life is not to be happy at all. It is to be useful, to be honorable. It is to be compassionate. It

Something precious is taken from us and we think of it as something we have lost, instead of something we have had. We remember how

Death ends a life, not a relationship. Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that’s all. You can’t see their smile or

“I’m sorry.” “No, it’s OK,” I start to say. / But it’s not. Because unless you’ve lost someone, you expect there to be a timeline:

Smile, without a reason why. Love, as if you were a child. Smile, no matter what they tell you. Don’t listen to a word they

The measure of your blessing is the measure of your loss. We focus on the end of life, but each life is filled with days

Let your grief course through you Like a great, grand river. Its journey to the sea is long and winding Sometimes, the rapids. You are

When we strip away our face of youth, when we no longer have a career we’re pursuing, when appearances are insignificant, when keeping life busy

Each of us has a name, given to us by God, and given to us by our father and mother. Each of us has a

Age has been on my mind all my life. When I was a kid I had a giant shock of black hair that was like

For everything there is a season. A time for everything under Heaven. A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to

Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won’t either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You

I wanted to see the sunrise in hope of awakening my spirit. I forced myself out of bed in anticipation of the dawning light, but

Vintage television: Ricky Ricardo comes home and finds Lucy searching the living room floor. When he asks what she is doing, she replies, “I lost

My son brought home a drawing of our family: his sister, two brothers and an Abba with silly grins. Then, I noticed myself. A person

Five years have passed since the deaths of my in-laws and we still feel their absence every day. It was in their memory that I