February 8, 2025 Flowers and all-things-plant-like are part of our family “tree” (I think of that great PBS show...
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This is a quote and a text from Sophy in May, when I had not heard from her...
Leave a little sparkle wherever you go. Shoot for the stars. Don’t let your light fade. Be brilliant....
It all started with my adult daughter’s comment that if my husband and I should leave this world at...
Actor Dean Winters… You may not recognize his name but you most likely would recognize his face—he’s the “Mayhem”...
I always find it interesting to learn more about favorite traditional hymns. “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is such a...
I love to make these to take to just about anything, or simply to enjoy at home with family!...
It is no wonder that we are all just a little bit on the wonky side of “keep on,...
I was talking with a friend the other day, who had inadvertently hurt me. (Hurts are usually inadvertent: Who...
I’m sure you have had fun picking strawberries and blackberries. Maybe in your own strawberry patch or finding a...
I’d like to talk with you about energy and equity. You might be lucky enough to not think twice...
For a whole year and a half, I have tried to attract birds to my garden. I put up...
“June is bustin’ out all over.” This is one of my favorite songs from the musical Oklahoma. The magnolia and...
I don’t know where it came from or how old it is; it has just “always been.”. “It” is...
Easter. Rebirth. Resurrection. Spring. It is also the time when we celebrate the Resurrection. Or, if you’re like me,...
February has a special connection to our hearts. There is Valentine’s Day and Heart Month. We share our love...
Every month, as I sit down to write my blog, I think, “This will be my last post. It’s...
December is a month of anticipation. Taking time to light Advent candles brings quiet reflection. The word Advent means...
For many years (40? 50?) no holiday celebration in our family has been complete without the family favorite: Polish...
This is a great side dish or snack during the winter. It’s also easy to double or halve the...
This Autumn has been particularly beautiful. I have taken some lovely drives through the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding...
I was recently watching a television series and one of the episodes was about the July 20, 1969 moon...
Today I saw a fox pattering along the edge of the forest, nose down, intent on its journey to...
Sixteen years ago I prayed to God to bring me a Relationship, the companion of my heart. I...
During a Summer like this, I like to keep refreshing drinks in the fridge so I can have a...
This has been an unusual summer. Covid-19 has kept us at home with family and many pets. I have...
Wow! In spite, of it all, God is good! God is great & the foretold days in which we...
July 2020 has certainly been an unforgettable month. Due to corona virus-19 July 4th parades, firework displays, large gathering...
This is a story of how lovingly our needs are met. It’s also about an angel, but mostly about...
May is a month to celebrate the wonders of Spring. M – many blessings for the spring rains and...
Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance. Where there is patience and humility, there...
Dear Janine, If there is one benefit to this coronavirus isolation, it’s giving us the luxury of time. It’s...
Spring brings us signs of new beginnings, new hope. This Spring of 2020 has certainly been a time for...
In December 1982, a Mel Gibson film entitled “The Year of Living Dangerously “was released. We are only a...
Dear Janine, The coronavirus seems to be the only topic of conversation these days, assuming you can even find...
In 2013, I had the opportunity to tour Ireland with the Knoxville Choral Society. During the trip, we sang...
The accompanying photo is from a correspondent, Pam Urquidi-Wilson, who sees angels in the clouds. On crutches, with...
A few weeks ago I “pulled a muscle.” You’d think at my age that I would know better...
Here we are in January. The new year. This time the new Decade. January is the month when we...
Christmas is a time for rejoicing in the birth of Jesus. What glorious music is heard throughout this beautiful...
Christmas is a time of giving. What we don’t always remember is that it’s also a time of receiving,...
These are a great cookie for the holidays! One batch makes between 90 and 100 cookies, they are small...
Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday. For one thing, it’s become so commercial, with its orange plastic turkeys and...
This is a perfect and easy soup for fall and winter. If you are worried about left-overs, just cool...
“Just be yourself. Everyone else is taken!” Oscar Wilde In this day and age where we all have to...
I come from a long line of “believers” (in Jesus Christ), and for all of those people who shared...
Autumn surprises us with glorious, amazing sunsets. God has given us the pleasure of seeing these beautiful sunsets with...
“…lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white unto harvest…” John 4:35 KJV I’m...
“Writing is a form of therapy: sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint...
These are a great fall cookie, especially if you do not want to overload on the pumpkin before Thanksgiving....
Genesis 8:22 (Revised Standard) While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and...
These cookies are perfect for the start of fall. Not too much work in the kitchen but a nice...
“Look, the trees are turning,” she said, glancing out the picture window toward the New Hampshire woods, and everything...
My faith journey began on Great Grandmother’s farm in the Hemet Valley of southern California. The Valley lay at...
By Sophy Burnham ——–While working in the garden, I began to muse on how humans are the only animals...
God gives us time to reminisce and enjoy the simple things in life. He wants us to share our...
Summertime, and the living is easy. Our cultural memories are rich with summertime: the slap of a screen door...
I normally write my own posts each month on FaithShapes, but this month I’m turning my space over to...
There is a saying in the 12-step Alcoholic Anonymous program that “You will not regret the past, nor wish...
One day I was trying to make easy smoothies for my nieces and nephew when I found some frozen...
Psalm 100: 1-2 (King James) Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord...
If you get lost in life, put your ear to the ground and listen to its pounding heart. ...
Maundy Thursday: The word “Maundy” comes to us as an Anglo-French word derived from the Latin “mandatum,” which means...
Mark 14: 32 (NIV) They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here...
The month of March is said to come in like a lion and out like a lamb, and as...
1 onion, chopped 1 T. butter 3 (14 oz. cans) chicken broth 1 (32 oz.) frozen hash browns...
St. Patrick’s Day is a day of Irish glee! Parades, everything green is worn, time for drinking green beer,...
A couple of nights ago I had this interesting dream of a couple of hanging pots with beautiful clover...
When St. Patrick came back to Ireland as an ordained priest to convert the Irish, he used the local...
These cookies have extra peanut butter with the chips added in with the nuts. Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups flour...
“It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to...
Psalm 150: 3-6 (NIV) Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,...
In dark December, when everyone was talking about harking to angels, and the birth of the Baby and the...
Not long ago a Canadian wrote me about a mysterious encounter he’d had with a homeless man, Helmut, who...
Ingredients: 1 Cup of sugar 1/4 Cup flour 1/8 tsp. nutmeg 1/2 Cup butter (1 stick) 1 recipe for...
Winter comes with gloomy, cold, rainy, snowy days. A fireplace for centuries was used to provide heat and cook...
Music is a beloved part of the Christmas season. From the Messiah’s Hallelujah” chorus to Burl Ives singing “A...
This is the season for harkening to angel songs, believing—even joyfully—the warmth, comfort, healing and optimism offered by the...
It is Thanksgiving week, and I am late with offering my few words before the T-Day feast of gladness...
Topaz is a transparent stone that can reflect a variety of colors, including blue, yellow, red, and brown. The...
2 pkg. Frozen chopped spinach 1 large pkg. Cream cheese (8 oz.) 1 stick of margarine, divided in half...
Every October, with its falling leaves and brilliant colors, I’m reminded of my father’s death: October 30 the...
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. An opal is an amazing stone of iridescent colors....
“Choose this day whom you will serve. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua...
This is an all-time family favorite! Just use a deep dish pyrex or other oven-safe pie plate. 1 pie...
The gemstone for September is sapphire, who knows why? (For that matter who made up the order of any...
Have you ever noticed how many songs have the word “blue” in their titles? Moody Blue, Blue Eyes Crying...
These are great cookies to start the fall season, not too heavy but the right amount of spice to...
Blue is my favorite color. The beauty of a pristine azure blue sky brings happiness to my heart and...
I know that it is September when the leaves begin to turn brown, or I find them in little...
How quickly my opinions change. One moment I am sneering at Michael Cohen, the President’s long-time lawyer and...
The phrase “green with envy” can be traced back to the ancient Greeks. And years later, William Shakespeare wrote...
A favorite character of The Muppets is Kermit, the Frog. He has a long term relationship with Miss Piggy....
You can use almost any kind of summer fruit for these shortcakes, whatever you can find that is fresh!...
Perhaps because of my name and its derivation (philo-sophy: the love of wisdom), I have a special relationship with...
My childhood years were spent in a rural farming community—not a lot of folks. Amidst that small population I...
Make a half of a cup of simple syrup. Let it cool to room temperature. Use 1/2 cup water...
Proverbs 2:6 (NIV) For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth comes knowledge and...
July is one of our family birthday months. Ruby is the “birthstone” for that month. I never see a...
As the earth swings in its elliptical arc around the sun and approaches the July 4 aphelion, its farthest...
No matter what the calendar may say, I think Summer officially begins the day I see my first firefly...
Walking on the beach Sounds of the ocean Finding a patch of thick green moss in the woods and...
This is a recipe for two 8″ cakes for one tier of cake.To make a 6″ tier half the...
Hooray for Summer! Time to visit family, explore beaches, hike mountain trails, join in a service project, or just...
There are definitely “summer savers” that restore our hearts, minds, and bodies. These are places such as the beach,...
The seed is with Christ and the harvest is with Christ. May we be swept into God’s granery. The...