The other day I read about Jean-Pierre de Caussade and his 300-year-old book, The Sacrament of the Present Moment. I found it online and felt pleased that it was available to me. In his classic of spiritual guidance and enlightenment, Caussade encourages his readers to find each moment a holy sacrament. I have yet to read the book. It should arrive shortly. However, this review reminded me of my way…

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Today, Christmas day, I am delighted to be sitting on my couch reading articles and getting ideas on baking and decorating for next Christmas from Victoria Magazine.  (Yes, I am a planner.) It is a peaceful morning with houseguests and husband snug in their beds.  This year the weather is not cooperating with my romantic ideal of at least two inches of snow.  However, the morning sun radiating through the…

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My daughter recently told me that on her way to work she noticed a caterpillar on a too-long strand trying to weave a cocoon in the wind, causing it to struggle. The image of that cocoon shifting in the wind kept popping into my head, perhaps because I’ve felt very much like it lately—the winds of life whipping me one way and then another: uncertainty in my future direction, inability…

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I glanced out my window at a beautiful sky. The sun was setting and the combination of cloud effect and angle of rays brought a rose softness to everything—as if the air itself were tinted. I went outside to experience the beauty. Rolls of clouds wound from one end of the sky to the other and one behind the other, like waves on a beach, acting as prisms to the…

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This concrete poem expresses how I feel about this Holy season.  My faith in God and His peace, family and you, my friends, are all a blessing in my life and part of the base that holds it all up.   I am grateful for each and every one.   Copyright October 20, 2010 Laurel Jean Becker

Photography by Deb Diasparra, www.diasparraphoto.com. Used with permission “It’s all a part of God’s plan.” “Everything happens for a purpose.” These are sayings we rattle off to each other when things go wrong—when someone is ill, dies, loses his job or even when someone’s brain malfunctions and he kills randomly. Does God have a plan for my life? I believe He does. Does he have a purpose for my life? I…

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Photography by Deb Diasparra, www.diasparraphoto.com; used with permission   In The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen,  a woman who claims to be a princess cannot rest because a pea that has been placed below the twenty mattresses she is sleeping on feels uncomfortable and keeps her awake.  According to the story, this level of physical sensitivity is a sure indication that she is a princess. When I was very young…

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Oh no! I thought as I opened our curtain to a world of white. Unlike in other parts of the country, April snow is not unusual in Colorado. But my husband and I had just returned from Texas, and I was not anxious to slop through the wet snow to refill my fridge. As I watched the dark sky brighten, I felt this particular morning was somehow unusual. I wasn’t…

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On my way to meet with my writing group, I grabbed my favorite travel mug—the one with a broken handle. The picture of a skull with a broken jaw immediately popped into mind. Oh yeah I thought and began laughing. I’m working on a murder mystery, and there’s no telling where the mind will travel when it’s cooking a mystery. Back to the broken mug. It’s the one with pictures…

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Strange is my first thought as I draw open my west-facing curtains. I never expect to see the full moon at sunrise. But there it is shining through an early morning mist that clings and runs like tears along the leaves and through the blades of grass. A comforting verse suddenly runs through my mind: “…weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalms 30:5) The…

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