Too Lofty?

Actor Dean Winters… You may not recognize his name but you most likely would recognize his face—he’s the “Mayhem” guy in Allstate Insurance’s TV commercials. He’s the one person we do not want to encounter!!! Beneath the surface of those Allstate commercials is a man who has endured his...

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Messiah

The first time I had the honor of singing “The Messiah” was in high school. This has been 52 years ago. My choral director, Mrs. Edwards, gave me a hard back copy of the complete score with my name embossed on the cover. I still use this somewhat tattered...

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November Blessings

November is quickly coming to a close.  Indian Summer has been in full glory with warm days, beautiful blue skies, and fantastic fall colors. There are many blessings we can be thankful for this Thanksgiving. It is time to reflect upon the thankfulness of God’s love, family, friends, the...

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Great Is Thy Faithfulness

I always find it interesting to learn more about favorite traditional hymns. “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” is such a hymn. Thomas Obadiah Chisolm was born in Franklin, KY in 1866. He became a teacher at age 16 and at age 27 became a Christian.  In 1893 he was associate...

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Simply Sophy: Reflections on Relationships

I was talking with a friend the other day, who had inadvertently hurt me.  (Hurts are usually inadvertent:  Who would choose a friend who would deliberately hurt you?) He said, “I don’t take responsibility for hurting you.  If your hurt button got pushed, it has nothing to do with...

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Blackberry Time

I’m sure you have had fun picking strawberries and blackberries. Maybe in your own strawberry patch or finding a blackberry patch beside a farmer’s dirt road. Where is nothing better than blackberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. YUM! Summer vacation was always a trip to see our grandparents in...

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Magnolia time

“June is bustin’ out all over.” This is one of my favorite songs from the musical Oklahoma. The magnolia and mimosa trees are blooming. The birds sing early each morning. A beautiful time to enjoy all the blessings of  summer. Yes, it is hot! A glass of sweet ice tea...

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A Happy Heart

February has a special connection to our hearts. There is Valentine’s Day and Heart Month. We share our love with family and friends on this very special day each year. One more way to share our love with others is to keep a healthy heart. There is research that...

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A Christmas Gift from The Holy Spirit

Every month, as I sit down to write my blog, I think, “This will be my last post. It’s time to stop. Too many people are creating, publishing, screaming for recognition, for me to add one more word.” (As if anyone is actually reading my posts, itself perhaps an...

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2021; A Year of New Beginnings

2021 is going to be a year of great anticipation, new beginnings, hope, and promises. A time to look forward to jobs returning, multiple family gatherings, lots of hugs, eating inside a restaurant, travel, and music of all genres. A world becoming Covid-19 virus free with the much needed...

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Advent Promise

December is a month of anticipation. Taking time to light Advent candles brings quiet reflection. The word Advent means arrival. The advent wreath is a circle representing unending love of Christ and eternal life. Each candle gives us a special meaning throughout each week of December. The First candle...

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Simply Sophy: Polish Mushrooms and Fearless Fat!

For many years (40? 50?) no holiday celebration in our family has been complete without the family favorite:  Polish Baked Mushrooms. (see below)  Not only is it rich with eggs and heavy cream and butter (and everything’s good with butter and cream), but filled with protein and fat.  You’d...

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A Grateful Heart

This 2020 Thanksgiving will certainly be different. The possibility of sharing a Thanksgiving meal with your family or friends may not happen or be very limited. Since March, America has taken one day at a time; trying to understand the Covid-19 virus, a presidential election, riots, hurricanes, fires, jobs...

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Autumn Beauty

This Autumn has been particularly beautiful. I have taken some lovely drives through the Great Smoky Mountains and surrounding state forests and seen God’s painted wonders. The days have been filled with amazing blue skies and warm temperatures. Just the right time for gentle walks through the local parks...

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Prophecy and Preview: Holy Wow! Part 2!

  Amos 3:6- 8 Does the trumpet sound the alarm in the city without frightening the people? Does disaster come to a city unless the Eternal One has permitted it? The answer to all is the same. No! The eternal Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his...

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Backyard Creatures

This has been an unusual summer. Covid-19 has kept us at home with family and many pets. I have spent each day looking out at my backyard watching birds, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, neighborhood cats, and an occasional skunk bring me pleasure each day. Cardinals mate for life. It is...

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Simply Sophy! Cheering for Ourselves

Dear Janine, If there is one benefit to this coronavirus isolation, it’s giving us the luxury of time.  It’s not boring. To quote Cicero, “ If you have a garden and a library, you have everything.”  But when, like me, you live alone, the hours are long, especially on...

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Sunshine in My Soul

Spring brings us signs of new beginnings, new hope. This Spring of 2020 has certainly been a time for renewing our faith, hope, and love in God. There have been many challenges that no one ever expected. Quarantine, isolation, social distancing, schools closed for the rest of the school...

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The Year of Living Differently!

In December 1982, a Mel Gibson film entitled “The Year of Living Dangerously “was released.  We are only a few months into a new year but I have already dubbed 2020 with the same title as The Year of Living Differently. For me, the difference began 17 days into...

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Angels Coming to Our Rescue!

  The accompanying photo is from a correspondent, Pam Urquidi-Wilson, who sees angels in the clouds. On crutches, with painful spinal issues, she lives with a generous, boundless faith in the Holy Spirit, seeing angels everywhere. It’s been a long time since I told a story of angels coming...

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God’s Love

February is the month to celebrate Black History Month, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day. Valentine’s Day is time to exchange loving gifts, cards, and phone calls with family and friends. In I John 4:16 (KJV) the Bible states “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in...

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The Best of Intentions. To Connect!

Here we are in January. The new year. This time the new Decade. January is the month when we make Resolutions—and usually forget them in a week. Instead of resolutions, I offer myself one word, an Intention, that I can muse on and meander beside throughout the year. One...

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Happy Thanksgiving

This picture reminds me of a song I use to teach to kindergarten children, You may remember it. Five fat turkeys are we. We sat all night in a tree. When the cook came around we couldn’t be found, So that’s why we’re here you see! This was such...

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Plastic Turkeys and Prayer!

Thanksgiving is not my favorite holiday. For one thing, it’s become so commercial, with its orange plastic turkeys and pumpkins, not to mention the tinsel of Christmas that started way back at Hallowe’en, that you can hardly remember to offer thanks. It’s ugly. I want beauty, kindness, thoughtful stillness,...

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On Being Myself for Halloween!

“Just be yourself. Everyone else is taken!” Oscar Wilde In this day and age where we all have to “become someone” in order to be seen or noticed, I have come to love this quote! Just be me, myself, and I. Yet while this seems simple enough I realize...

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“Eating Worms”or Gardening with Gratitude!

By Sophy Burnham ——–While working in the garden, I began to muse on how humans are the only animals (at least that we know of) who can live in both past and future. True an earthworm has a one-second precognitive response before it’s cut in two , and to...

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Healing Arrogance and Criticism for Creativity!

There is a saying in the 12-step Alcoholic Anonymous program that “You will not regret the past, nor wish to close the door on it.” And mostly this is true, except when I find myself awake in the darkest hours of a morning night defenseless against the Inner Judge...

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Valentine Music

Psalm 150: 3-6 (NIV)  Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with  timbrel and dancing,  praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals,  praise him with resounding  cymbals. Let everything that has breath...

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Looking for the Light of Love!

Not long ago a Canadian wrote me about a mysterious encounter he’d had with a homeless man, Helmut, who always carried in his shopping bags spiritual books, herbs, treats and notebooks, and you could imagine that many people thought this ragged man was probably a little crazy. But Helmut...

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Looking for Angel Letters!

This is the season for harkening to angel songs, believing—even joyfully—the warmth, comfort, healing and optimism offered by the angels, the sense that everything is goingto be all right, and that with all our doubts, inadequacies and fears we, too, are all right. We are perfect just the way...

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Thanksgiving Thoughts from Sophy!

It is Thanksgiving week, and I am late with offering my few words before the T-Day feast of gladness that we are called to, because in the last weeks it feels as if all I’ve done is attend memorial services (three in three days; others earlier). Each service took...

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Holiday New Orleans Spinach!

2 pkg. Frozen chopped spinach 1 large pkg. Cream cheese (8 oz.) 1 stick of margarine, divided in half grated rind of one lemon Pepperidge Farm dressing crumbs (herb seasoned) Blend cream cheese, ¼ stick of margarine and lemon rind.  Cook spinach according to directions.  Drain well. Squeeze out...

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Strange Intuitions: Spirits and Ghosts

   Every October, with its falling leaves and brilliant colors, I’m reminded of my father’s death: October 30 the night before Halloween. My mother had died three years earlier, leaving our father, stroke-ridden, in our house. What was curious, whenever I visited Daddy, I could feel my mother in...

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