Expectations speak to desired outcomes like: trust, belief, safety, possibility, anticipation or, looking forward. They’re sometimes an assumption, but often they’re deeply rooted longings bolstered by the faith that something petitioned for or desperately needed will come to fruition. What are your great expectations? I asked myself, “what do I desire to create or achieve with this year that’s […]
Category Archives: Peace Full Home/Intentional Living
Nocturnal Panic Attacks False Awakenings Lucid Dreaming They’re all genuine and can make you believe you’re physically dying. The illusion of waking up even though you’re still asleep involves experiences that seem completely real. Eventually, you often become cognizant that you’re actually in a dream, one foot in the tangible world, the other in an altered state. […]
Part 1: Sleepless in Emmaus It was 4:40 on this last day of 2022 when I woke up. Thankfully, the early rising wasn’t because of a full-blown nightmare like I had the previous night, where it physically felt like I had a heart attack. Frantic and powerless, I was pushing back against a reality I […]
On this day after Christmas, the house is silent—too quiet, honestly—with only Vero (our empathic little rescue dog) and me sitting in the library as the heater whirs on, staving off the winter that won’t officially end until March 20th. The past two days were a whirlwind—leaving our home for church on Christmas Eve with […]
Yesterday, I ran a few errands, then did some final decorating— stringing the Christmas cards we received from friends so I could hang them across the doors. After all, if we’re blessed to receive these greetings of love, shouldn’t we somehow acknowledge them? Too often, I forget what really matters, caught up in the secular […]
Stories about Christmas abound. Some of them are filled with the sadness of missing a loved one. Others recall times, when we were far from home or Christmas didn’t play out the way we painted it in our idyllic imaginations. Mostly, however, the stories we share are the happiest ones. This is one of those […]
This morning, I woke up again with a mental Christmas “still to-do list” that rivals most of those I make. I backed out of the garage and headed down the cul-de-sac, turning left onto St. Peter’s Road. As I round the corner, I again see “The Bicycle Tree.” This isn’t a tiny faux tree adorned […]
A few weeks ago, I unpacked Christmas. In the boxes were fragile glass ornaments, precious works of art with”best Nana ever,” and the little drummer boys my daughters, Sara and Erin, made with their grandmother more than thirty years ago. There were gifts from friends and heartfelt pieces my Mom gave me. Some are decades […]
As I sit facing the east, in my quiet time with God and my tea, I see the maple tree as the sun rises each morning. She was here before me—graceful and sturdy, a beautiful paradox. My grandchildren used to climb her branches, and each autumn, they would jump in piles of her vibrant, fallen […]
The table of Thanksgiving has been set. For many, it will be filled with laughter and reminiscing. For many, it will be a table for just one. A barely perceptible voice whispers, “you are loved.” “Thank You, God” will be followed by a list of extraordinary blessings. “Thank You, God” will be followed by “for […]
Life’s fragility—much too fleeting or painstakingly stagnant, joyfully overflowing or devastatingly lonely—plays out in this space between human life and death. Sometimes, lines have been rehearsed for decades; often, we’re caught off guard, blindsided by the swiftness of change that was never expected or invited. We can be like shooting stars—tiny specs of dust glowing […]
Today my granddaughter has been on this planet for seventeen years. She, by her nature, makes our world a better place. Images of the beautiful human she has become—physically but also vibrationally and emotionally with compassion, joy, and respect for humanity— swirl through my mind. Time is a fleeting reality, yet my brain is often […]
The human brain is only three pounds but has a trillion cells and a rapidly firing hundred billion neurons. Our cerebrum’s options are practically limitless, yet we humans often get caught up in minuscule life routines, forgetting to see other pictures of life different from our norms or what’s right in front of us. Reflecting on life this […]
The pear tree I planted almost two decades ago is heavy with fruit. Most years, I don’t thin it out as I should, and when I walked outside this morning, I noticed the tree branches weighted down, scattered cores from the deer that feast each night at her base. A peach tree planted the same […]
There was a man who, long ago, created a life filled with unbridled joy and an awareness of the universe’s amazingness. Nevertheless, as in many stories, a shift took place; it started slowly but kept building into a flame consuming the truth until he didn’t recognize his value, his verve, or the pain that was […]
Part I I woke up this beautiful summer morning from a bad dream; thankfully, not a full-blown nightmare which I have too often. These sleep-state images were about being in a terrible accident and waking up paralyzed, my ability forever at the mercy of a wheelchair; my life abruptly halted. In the dream, I was […]
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” I drive on a two-lane road on an early, but not ordinary, perfect seventy-two-degree morning. No other cars vie for nature’s attention on this still sleepy hour, where I navigate […]
After another night of bad dreams, I woke up tired and disoriented. I called the new day to me, trying to shake off the dark, pulling myself together (literally curling up in a fetal position), then getting myself together emotionally. I’ve never understood the calamity my brain creates as I attempt to sleep when I […]
When my granddaughter, Lauren, was in middle school, she read me a story about a family that lived through a devastating Joplin, Missouri tornado. Their home was completely destroyed, but they survived the deadliest tornado our country had seen in sixty years. I imagine their life has never been the same; the recognition of “what […]
When I started “Peace Full Home” many years ago, it wasn’t because I was brainstorming a new writing venture. It came to me (or, more accurately, was offered to me) as I sat on the deck on a beautiful sun-blessed morning. It was a gift given freely, not requested. My hope will always be to lift you […]
A few years ago, as I sat writing at my desk before the sun rose, I inaudibly heard “look up” and saw that sections of the library’s cathedral ceiling were, falling! My first step was emptying the room. Art, photos, gifts, precious mementos from my daughters and grandchildren, and hundreds of books (yep, I counted […]
This morning—at 5:13 in our Northern Hemisphere—marked the summer solstice, one of my favorite days because it marks the day with the longest organic luminosity. (Summer is also my favorite season.) As I think about this light, I am aware of all the darkness on our planet—this celestial body rotating on its axis, orbiting around […]
Thursday Morning 5:08 am I wake to joyous birdsong and listen; Downy Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves, Northern Cardinals, Song Sparrows, Blue Jays, Tufted Titmouse, House Sparrows, Carolina Wrens, and many more whose names I do not yet know. 5:27 am The windows are partly open as thunder begins rolling in, the birds quieter for just a […]
World Awareness:Children in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya are starving to death while many in our country throw food away. Often, we avoid the images of emaciated humans turning instead to gaze at our beautiful homes with televisions, beds to sleep on, and cabinets and refrigerators overflowing with food, as others watch their children die, helpless […]
Headlines, primarily negative, race across my screen as I start today’s post on “Change.” It seems—more than ever—that our world is truly broken. (Perhaps it’s just me.) Change is burdensome for many humans. Pre COVID-19, it seemed as if many of us were somewhat complacent, buoyed by what we considered the rhythm of our blessed […]
peace full home®—intentional living 