I want to take today to thank the Women of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) for their generous invitation to speak at their Las Vegas Conference on March 9th. What a wonderful and welcoming group of women. It was a pleasure to take part in the day.

Thank you also for the opportunity to sell my books, and a very special thank you for giving my sister, Pamela, a platform to launch her new website KeepinTouchJournals.com.

I am now going to take a moment to introduce my readers to her site as well. It currently offers wall art, postcards, and note cards, some of which feature original artwork by artist Kathy Smith, and all of which focus on the site’s mission statement of “Spreading God’s love through the written word.”

Take a moment to visit her site and sign up to receive product updates and special offers.

Thank you for your continued support and readership. I truly appreciate it.

What can I say, spring is here, and I for one LOVE this season! What’s not to love?

OK, so I am a bit partial to this particular season since my birthday falls in it, but there are multiple websites that agree with me. Here are twenty of the many reasons why spring tops the charts with a few additional NorCal commentaries of my own.




1. You can enjoy heaps of sunshine.
2. Temperatures are perfect. (especially when you know what summer will bring!)
3. It’s light after work.
4. The leaves are back. ( I love the green of spring.)
5. Cute baby animals are everywhere.
6. Flowers! Flower! Flowers!
7. You have fresh breezes. (Well, hmmmm. Had 30 mile an hour winds about three weeks ago. Not sure what constitutes "fresh.")
8. You can work outside. (Hired a gardener to do that, so now I just enjoy the outside. Golf anyone?)
9. You can eat outside again. (Breakfast on the patio; barbecues begin.)
10. You can get your vitamins naturally. (Can anyone say Vitamin D?)
11. The butterflies are back.
12. You can open your windows. (Love this one especially!)
13. Light jackets replace bulky coats.
14. It’s warm enough for iced coffee. (Or iced anything!)
15. You can exercise outdoors. (See? Golf???)
16. It is time for spring cleaning (No idea why this one is on the list though they tried to justify it by claiming it gives you a fresh start.)
17. The birds return.  (Absolutely love the singing! Best alarm clock ever.)
18. It makes you more creative. (Scientifically proven)
19. You are safer. (“Springing forward” appears to reduce crime.)
20. It is the season of Easter. (The best reason ever!)

If you have your own reasons for loving spring, then please share. Don’t worry. I love ALL the seasons, and if the truth be known, I found websites claiming each of the seasons is the best––which makes sense, since God created them all.

Sources

“15 Scientific Reasons Spring is the Most Delightful Season.” mentalfloss.com. 20 Mar. 2018.
“Ten Reasons Why Spring is the Best Season.” PastBook.com.  2 Mar. 2017.
“20 Reasons Why Spring is the Best Season of the Year.” goodhousekeeping.com. 19 Mar. 2018.

I have a friend who is bionic. Well, at least on the left side. New ankle. New knee. New shoulder. We are encouraging her not to go for the hip. But there is one thing I have noticed after each of these surgeries: though the joint may be new, it does’t work perfectly right away. It takes time, exercise, perseverance, and someone to help her to get that new joint and the surrounding muscles up to speed. It’s called rehab.

When we place our trust in God, we turn in our old lives for a new one, and we often want and expect immediate and complete change, but God doesn’t promise us that. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that this new life will be in full working order immediately. Like that new joint, it takes time, perseverance, and people to help us leave the pulls of our old life and desires and venture forth in this new one.

And we are not alone. Paul (sometimes considered the greatest apostle) after his conversion spent time with Ananias, and some scholars believe he stayed almost a year with the disciples in Damascus. Barnabas also had a part in Paul’s Christian growth when Paul came to Jerusalem. And then there were anywhere from ten to fourteen years between his conversion and his first missionary journey.

We later see Barnabas take John Mark under his wing, while Paul mentors Timothy.  

The Bible is rich with verses that remind us to encourage and teach each other, such as these two: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up” (I Thessalonians 5:11).

So we should never let our past hold us back nor be discouraged when we stumble in our walk. Rather we should take the attitude of Paul when he writes to the Philippians, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14).

Or as the Salvation Army used to exhort fellow Christians in the early 1900s––Keep on keeping on!

I have a friend who is bionic. Well, at least on the left side. New ankle. New knee. New shoulder. We are encouraging her not to go for the hip. But there is one thing I have noticed after each of these surgeries: though the joint may be new, it does’t work perfectly right away. It takes time, exercise, perseverance, and someone to help her to get that new joint and the surrounding muscles up to speed. It’s called rehab.

When we place our trust in God, we turn in our old lives for a new one, and we often want and expect immediate and complete change, but God doesn’t promise us that. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that this new life will be in full working order immediately. Like that new joint, it takes time, perseverance, and people to help us leave the pulls of our old life and desires and venture forth in this new one.

And we are not alone. Paul (sometimes considered the greatest apostle) after his conversion spent time with Ananias, and some scholars believe he stayed almost a year with the disciples in Damascus. Barnabas also had a part in Paul’s Christian growth when Paul came to Jerusalem. And then there were anywhere from ten to fourteen years between his conversion and his first missionary journey.

We later see Barnabas take John Mark under his wing, while Paul mentors Timothy.  

The Bible is rich with verses that remind us to encourage and teach each other, such as these two: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16). “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up” (I Thessalonians 5:11).

So we should never let our past hold us back nor be discouraged when we stumble in our walk. Rather we should take the attitude of Paul when he writes to the Philippians, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (3:13-14).

Or as the Salvation Army used to exhort fellow Christians in the early 1900s––Keep on keeping on!

Birth through adolescence is marked by one recurring event: growing pains. Some we don’t remember like teething and some of that muscle and bone soreness that accompanies adolescent growth. Some of it we might, like the emotional ups and downs we experienced in our teens.

As kids we accepted the pain, most likely because we had no choice in the matter. But those difficult times brought stronger bodies and emotional stability.

Physically, once we reach adulthood, the growing pains are over. (Well, except for the frustration over maintaining our waistline.) However, as Christians we should be growing all the time, for Paul tells us that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God promises growth.

Now granted we can stifle the growing process as we see when the writer of Hebrews chastises his listeners for still requiring the spiritual milk of infancy instead of the meat of maturity (5:12-14), but what spiritual growth means for us is that at one time or another we will experience growing pains.

Some of our Christian growth will be joyful as we can see in this prayer of Paul’s:  “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight. . .” (Philippians 1:9).

At other times we might experience some pain with that joy: “We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. (Romans 5:3-4)

But at other times the process is just painful. Sometimes because of God’s need to discipline us: “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it” (Hebrews 12:11).

Sometimes because of sacrifice: "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me” (Matthew 8:34-35).

Though our physical growing pains might be in our past, our spiritual ones are not. But remember the old cliche which so appropriately says, “No pain. No gain.”