Got your Word of the Year for 2021? Good! Now what? <—– That was my thought many years ago. I’d pick a word to be part of the Cool Group, LOL, and found it fell by the wayside without some TLC from me. My intention for my Word of the Year is to bring about transformation in my life. That’s why I choose a character trait that needs to be developed in me (see yesterday’s blog; some have been joy, courage, contentment etc.). I want to be better by the end of the year, not experi

“Words, words, words,” Hamlet says in the library scene of Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet. Often played with humor, Shakespeare’s scene helps Hamlet develop the false idea that he is going insane. But it’s not a crazy idea to choose a Word of the Year. I started doing this in 2012. Something led me to look up the meaning of my name, Janet. When I saw that it means “God’s gracious gift,” I almost laughed out loud. Me, a gift, much less a gracious gift? Oh no. That needed work. So

We can be LIGHT for others this Christmas season. That occurred to me as I thought about the Christmas Star alignment of Jupiter and Saturn tonight and then read this fabulous blog by Laurie Davies of Go Get Your Life. Enjoy this beautiful prose, follow her on FB and for her newsletter (see her web link), and then go be LIGHT for someone this week! Love, Janet I can’t wait for Christmas. In a year of “I can’ts,” there’s almost a desperation when we say it. Like we need it. L

I found a cute pair of salt and pepper shakers at our new antiques store in Loyalton–Lombardi Mercantile. I might have overlooked them from earlier visits there, as they were beaten up with use–the painted exterior worn from lots of salting and peppering and a missing piece on Salt. However, I noticed some lettering on the back, and when I picked them up and examined them more closely, my reading confirmed my thoughts: Salt has a grace to say before meals, while Pepper has a

A little reflection on the 50th anniversary this week of my faith commitment. I was raised going to church in Hudson in upstate New York. Every Sunday we five kids put on our best clothes and headed out the door with Mom and Dad. My sister Nan and I were old enough to sing in the girls’ choir, so for the first service we put on choir robes and sang from sideways pews up the steps by the altar. After the service we quickly hung up those choir robes and ran upstairs in the chu

“Words. Words. Words.” A famous line spoken by Hamlet–one of my favorite lines from Shakespeare. Words fascinate me. How can something hurt but also heal? Enlighten but also confuse? Make something out of seemingly nothing? Examine this from my reading today: “Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose w