Tag: faith

The Little Things

It’s not a new thought but it has taken me years to truly absorb the impact of it. God cares about the little things.

God cares about microscopic plankton and miniscule flowers. He cares about what you eat, how you prepare it, and why. He cares about who you share your food with. He cares about your random thoughts and how you react to traffic. He cares about all the things you care about because He cares about you.

God gave His people intricate details about the tabernacle and the temple because He cares about how we meet with Him. He gives us instructions on righteous living because He cares how we conduct ourselves. He wants to be a part of every detail of our lives, not to control us but because He loves us that much.

How was your day? Did you get angry when you were ignored? Were you aroused by that love-making scene on tv? Did you feel proud when your friend complimented your new handbag? Did I even think about God during the day?

For our struggle is not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12.

And those cosmic powers of darkness seep into our lives through the little things.

If I buy outdated seeds because they are cheaper, I will have a poor sugar snap crop. If I plant my tomatoes in the shade, they won’t produce well. If I don’t make the effort to water my plants, they will die. Little things with big consequences.

It does matter how I spend the next hour. It does matter how I talk to strangers, my friends, my family. It does matter what I worry about, what I strive for, what I seek after. So often, I don’t even take the time to determine that; I just act, like an animal running on instinct.

But these little battles matter. Every little win makes us stronger and loosens the tempter’s grip on us. Each time we call on God, each time we invoke the name of Jesus, each time we pray with the Holy Spirit, we claim a little more space for God to grow in us.

As we remove each rock of resentment, every stone of covetousness, and the weeds of worry, we create a beautiful garden for God to grow His fruit.

His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” Matthew 25:23.

The little things matter. The little things lead to big things, good or bad. You know this. I know this, but it is so easy to forget. It is so easy to think God doesn’t care about little things, like if I eat this whole bag of chips or if I call that person an idiot or if I watch that movie. He cares, friend.

He wants us to win every battle, seek first the kingdom (Matt. 6:33), and bring everything to Him in prayer (Phil. 4:6). For the little things make up the big things. The little things come first.

God cares about the plankton. He cares about the fish who eat it and the bigger fish who eat them. He cares about the fisherman who caught that fish and you who serve that fish to your family. He cares whether you thank Him for that fish.

Little things make a big difference.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Peace

The beach is empty in the chill morning air. Only the bravest, bundled in jackets and scarves, take their dogs on long walks beside the lapping water. Snowbirds gather here this time of year. The bright sun breaks through the wind and warms my soul if not my feet.

I love the beach in winter. I can hear the waves and look out to sea, mesmerized by the rhythmic sound. In the summer, I would feel the pull of swimsuits and sunscreen and sandcastles, dragging my uncooperative beach chairs to the sand and staking out my spot. But this morning, I sit in my flannel nightgown and cradle my coffee as I soak up God’s beauty through large windows.

O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. Yonder is the sea, great and wide, creeping things innumerable are there, living things both small and great. Psalm 104:24-25.

This is what I want to bring back with me from my beach trip. Not a perfect shell or fresh caught shrimp. Not even the taste of a harvested-that-day oyster from the newly opened Apalachicola Bay. I want to bring back this peace, this assurance that God is good, that His creation is good, even the parts I don’t like or understand. I want to carry home my separation from the tv and the clock, from talking heads and fear mongers.

Already as the sun climbs higher in the sky, the sounds of hammering and buzz saws from the house being built nearby drown out the sound of the waves. My very short to-do list pulls me from the view of the horizon to more mundane sights. Perhaps that is the way with peaceful communion. We can’t stay in it to the exclusion of the world around us. But we are called to return to it as often as we can.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. Mark 1:35.

Perhaps I can take a little of this trip home with me. Perhaps, I don’t need a trip to the beach to sense the closeness of God. I know I sense Him in my garden when I smell the fresh turned dirt or taste a crisp sugar snap. I know I sense his presence in waterfalls on the lake, in the call of the mourning doves, and the rustle of the wind in the trees. God is, after all, everywhere at all times and with us to the end of the age. I don’t need to go to Him. He is already here with me, with you.

The point, then, is to take the time to sit quietly in His presence. To quiet our fears and our constant churning, to turn off our phones and watches so that we can soak up the presence of God.

Can I be still for ten minutes? Twenty? An hour? At the beach, I can sit and watch the waves for an hour. On the lake, I can soak up the sunshine for an hour. In the garden, I can tend to my plants and enjoy their growth. In the woods, I can take deep breaths and admire the beauty of trees. I can immerse myself in His Word, or in music that elevates my spirit. There are so many ways to reconnect with God, to bolster the Holy Spirit within me, to give Him time to grow and bear fruit in my life.

The fruit of peace. Like the peace of watching the sun sparkle on the water, of hearing the waves lap against the shore, of hearing the birds all to each other, of watching a plant grow.

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:1.

Love in Christ, Betsy

What Will You Choose?

I love the God who created tomatoes and figs and oceans and sunrises and trees draped with Spanish moss.

It is harder for me to love the God that created that serpent and that forbidden fruit. But if He created everything and nothing came into being without him (John 1:3), then He also created cancer and leprosy and polio and covid and venomous sea serpents and poisonous mushrooms.

Why?

Perhaps to give us the opportunity to choose good, to choose to obey His voice, not be forced to do so by a lack of options.

Maybe God wants us to learn and discover what is evil, what we can do to avoid it, and how to battle its consequences. Maybe He wants us to learn about microbes and germs and discover cures and preventions. It starts with recognizing and understanding the things around us.

The world, the universe, is a treasure trove of gifts yet undiscovered. God has hidden them so that we may sense the thrill of discovery when we find them. Plants that thrive in austere conditions, planets that explode millions of miles away, germs that weasel their way into our dna strands. Research into those ‘challenging’ things that God has created has taught us about the universe – weather, germs, poisons, mental disorders. We have the choice to let harmful things have their way with us or make an effort to overcome them.

I always have the choice to act in my own self-interest or to act in love, putting other’s interests ahead of my own. God gave us this option by creating a world full of decisions to be made. He wants us to make the wiser choice. He even tells us what it is.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourself. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Philippians 2:3-4.

Furthermore, God does not leave us to face these choices on our own. He’s here with us. He gave us instructions and advice, cautionary tales, and wise advisors. He sent His son to walk among us and show us how. He sent His spirit to live within us and help us choose rightly.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:13.

God created a beautiful, awesome, amazing world, but it is also full of perils, some hidden, some obvious. He calls us to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves (Matthew 10:16) and he calls us above all else to love each other (John 15:12 and 1 John 4:7-8).

God loves us so much that He gives us the option to choose rebellion, to put ourselves before Him and others. We can ignore His guidance. We can choose to walk in darkness and fulfill our own selfish desires. We can choose to sit idle when danger appears. Or we can choose to act in love. We can choose to accept that God created things we do not like, things that harm us and others, and people who challenge and threaten us. We can choose to see these as opportunities for growth. We can look for cures and preventions. We can choose to act in love toward those who challenge us.

There is so much we have yet to discover – about this world, about each other, even about ourselves. It starts with learning about the God created all of it, about His love for us. He calls us to share this love with His world, not just the parts we like, but, in wisdom, with the parts we fear.

We have the choice. Let’s choose love today.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Just Do It

For every inclination we have to ‘do something,’ we have an equal and opposite inclination to not do it. Call it the physics of human impetus. Sometimes that is our conscience or the Holy Spirit warning us of the potential hazards of an action. Sometimes it is our lazy selfishness or fearful anxiety that prevents us from moving forward.

Nike is urging us to overcome that second form of inertia. Don’t let laziness or selfishness or fear or anxiety stop you from stepping out in faith. Just do it. Plant the garden, plan the trip, make the call, take that first step. Just do it. (In Nike’s case, put on their shoes and exercise!)

I have had people tell me that they want a garden, but they don’t have one. They don’t have the room or the time. They have tried and failed in the past. It seems like too much work. Growing something doesn’t necessarily involve a lot of work unless you choose to let it. You can grow tomatoes in a pot on your balcony. You can grow herbs on your kitchen sink. Yes, you will get your hands dirty on occasion, and you must remember to water your plant, but beyond that, how large and diverse a garden you have is up to you.

What is necessary is the decision to do it. Carve out space in your yard. Buy a pot and a starter plant. Set aside a time to water. If you are concerned, unsure if your inertia is fear or sensible caution, start slowly. One plant. In a safe place.

The beauty of God’s creation is that He made the seed with the desire to become a fruit-bearing plant. Our “work” is simply to let it do what it was created to do. Our work is to clear out those things which prevent that seed from becoming all that it can be.

Your relationship with God, Father, Son, and Spirit, your spiritual growth, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life is the same. We can make it seem like a big, difficult, time-consuming thing and make excuses for why we don’t invest in that relationship. Or we can set aside a small space on our counter or on the balcony and plant that seed.

Pray. List your concerns. Tell God your hopes and fears. Read His word. Listen to his voice. Have a conversation with Him as you would with a close friend. Give the seed of His Spirit within you a little space to grow, a little water.

He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly before your God? Micah 6:8.

It’s not a long, complicated list.

We may look at someone else’s huge, beautiful garden and think we could never do that. That may be true. God may not be calling you or me to do that. But that should not stop us from growing basil on our windowsill. The fact that some are called to be missionaries in difficult situations should not stop us from taking ten minutes in the morning to sit and talk with God.

Just do it.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on that rock. Matthew 7:24-25.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Holiday Spirit

Are you listening to carols on the radio? Have you bought all your presents? Are they wrapped? Are you headed to a Christmas party or luncheon or gathering? Do you have your festive clothes laid out? Have you made cookies? Is your mantle decorated? Are you in the Christmas spirit?

I am exhausted just writing this! Do I have time to write this? Do you have time to read it?

We all know that this is not what the true Christmas Spirit is, all this hustle and bustle and decorating and eating and gifting. But the pull is strong. We remember our friends and family and want to celebrate with them. We want to hear that glorious music, and the fun, silly songs as well. We want to cry when Clarence gets his wings and laugh at the leg lamp. We want to make those cookies with Grandmother’s recipe. We want to don our red and green attire and sip champagne.

All of this is wonderful if exhausting.

There have been Christmases when I was better at finding the quiet moments to contemplate the incarnation of God. There have been Christmases when I never found that moment, never took that moment.

I was at a lovely Christmas luncheon the other day and a young couple was entertaining us. In the middle of their rendition of “All I want for Christmas is You,” a wave of grief overtook me. Fortunately, all eyes were on the singers as my throat constricted and the tears threatened to roll down my cheeks. I can’t have what I would really like, at least not in this life. My husband is gone; my heart is broken and empty.

Perhaps that’s what all this merry making is about, filling the void in our hearts.

“What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.”
– Blaise Pascal, Pensées VII(425), 1672

This was true 350 years ago and it is true today. We cannot find happiness with the Spirit of Christmas. We can only find happiness, joy, and meaning, with the Spirit of Christ.

We will put our holiday decorations away in a few weeks, send our families back to their own homes, and try to lose the extra pounds we gained eating all those cookies. We’ll shift our thoughts from commemorating 2025 to embracing 2026. But that hole in my heart will still be there unless I invite His Holy Spirit to fill it.

Do you sense Him calling you? In the middle of all the celebrating and hustle and bustle, do you hear the still, small voice of God calling you?

Listen! I am standing at the door knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you and you with me. Revelation 3:20.

And not just for a Holiday meal, forever.

And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20.

Are you in the Christmas Spirit? Take a moment this season and let the Spirit of Christ be in you. That is the only way that the infinite abyss of our hearts can be filled.

Love in Christ, Betsy

A Mouse in the House

I was watching tv the other night when a mouse ran across the hardwood floor in front of me. I froze. My blood pressure skyrocketed, and I felt my heart in my throat. Disgust gripped me over this two-inch mammal. It had to go.

For years I had cats. To be fair, I probably had mice then too, but the cats kept them at bay. When my last cat passed away at nineteen, I chose to replace my living room floors and furniture instead of replacing her. I finally have a fur and scratch free living room, but I also have a mouse.

I put out those friendly traps that supposedly poison the rodents, but this one seems immune. (At least I hope it is only one, although that sounds naïve.) I put out the ‘humane kill’ boxes and baited them to no avail. Every day I looked for signs of its presence and cleaned more of my kitchen, my closets, any potential hiding place.

And still, I would catch glimpses of it running down the hall, triggering my panic response. At night, my dreams would be nightmares of mice. (If only a nutcracker prince would kill them all!)

I finally laid down those sticky pads in multiple corners and around all the bait traps. It worked, but slowly. What a horrible way to die. Despite my aversion to rodents, I felt sorry that it had to die that way, stuck in place. But nothing else worked. And it had to go. For my sanity; for the cleanliness and sanctity of my home.

Do you think God looks at our sin that way?

There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run to evil, a lying witness who testifies falsely, and one who sows discord in a family. Proverbs 6:16-19.

Do you think He tries to rid His house of these things? Not just his church, but me, one of the houses where His Spirit lives? When I look at another with ‘haughty eyes,’ with disdain and contempt, does His pulse race and His stomach turn? When I ‘embellish the truth,’ does He set out traps to catch me in my lies? And when I ‘outsmart God’ in His attempts to humanely rid my life of sinful ways, is He left only painful and miserable ways to get rid of them?

I hope that I can be diligent in cleaning out my internal closets and cupboards. I pray that God will show me the evidence, the signs of sin’s presence in my life. And having seen my actions through God’s eyes, I pray God gives me the strength to keep my sin at bay.

My apologies if you are one of those people who decorate for Christmas with cute little stuffed mice dressed in holiday garb. I know at some level that mice are just doing what they do, that they enter my home for warmth and food and safety from hawks. But this is not the place for them. My home will not be a sanctuary for mice.

And my life will not be a sanctuary for sin and demons. I want my life to reflect God’s love for me, for you. I, like those football players, want to say. “First, all glory goes to God our savior.” I want to get rid of my sin for my sanity, for the cleanliness and sanctity of my home.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in a way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24.

I may get a cat in the spring. I could use help keeping the rodents out of my home. I thank God for the Holy Spirit to help me keep the sins out.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Planting Garlic

I planted my garlic this past weekend. It’s got me thinking about the seeds we plant in the “off season,” when all the focus is elsewhere.

December is a time when I am consumed with gatherings – family, friends, every group of which I am a part gathers this time of year. Ostensibly to celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ, but usually just for the opportunity to dress up and gather, eat, drink, and perhaps exchange gifts. It’s a time to celebrate here and now, our family and friends. Anything beyond the here and now tends to focus on the past, childhood memories, family traditions.

The church calls this time Advent, the coming, and encourages us to look forward. We are asked to prepare ourselves in anticipation of the wonders God is about to perform. He planted a seed, the unformed nucleus of God enfolded into a perishable body, which grew into a man and lived among us for thirty-some years. He gave us a small child who changed the world, whose Spirit continues to change the world.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

This is the week when I put away the pumpkins and fall colors and bring out the red and green. (I know, some of you are far ahead of me on this task.) And, in the middle of this, I planted garlic bulbs that I won’t dig up until summer.

Garlic cloves need to be planted after the first frost and before the ground is frozen solid. Like many bulbs, they need to spend a season underground in the cold, storing up nutrients and preparing themselves to grow. Unlike my sugar snaps and tomatoes, I need to plant garlic long before its growing season. I plant in the cold looking forward to the hot sun and lazy days of summer.

God planted a seed in my heart as well when I was cold-hearted and consumed with my immediate needs and wants. That seed took a long time to bear fruit in me. Now I think of the seeds that I have planted, that I am planting in my own life and in the lives of those around me. It may seem pointless, burying a seed in the cold and dark and trusting that God will transform it into fruit for His kingdom. But that is how seeds work.

Amid all our celebrating and gathering and living our lives, we can take a moment to plant a seed, a seed of love, a seed of kindness, a seed of connection. We can trust that God can transform that seed into a relationship with Him, even if we never see it or know of it.

This is Advent, the coming of Christ into the world. Not only as a one-time event two thousand years ago, but also as a daily event here and now. Christ comes to live with us, within us, within those around us. Perhaps all that is needed to sense His presence in the world is for us to take a moment and plant a seed.

You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. 1 Peter 1:23.

I hope to plant more than garlic this Advent season. I hope to plant love. I hope God uses me to answer someone’s prayer. I pray that another will see how much God loves them through my words and actions.

Gather in celebration this Advent. Gather in love and plant some seeds.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Give Thanks

I am grateful to live in a country that intentionally sets aside a day to give thanks. As humans, we often let the day devolve into a day of political arguments, old scores, and overdoing it. I. like the biblical Martha, tend to focus on logistics and preparation and miss the important thing.

God gives us this day, this food, our breath, what little strength we have. (Deut. 8:11-18) God gives us the opportunity to live in communion with Himself, the giver of all good things, the creator of the universe, and the Lord of heaven’s armies.

This is the true gift for which I want to give thanks:

The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory of the father’s only son, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself. Philippians 2:8

He calls us to “abide with him.” (John 15)

Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:16,20.

So,

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

 if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself. 2 Timothy 2:11-13.

Thanks be to God! His faithful love endures forever!

Love in Christ, Betsy

Plans

I planned to plant my garlic this weekend, after the first hard frost. But a warm spell has made my iris come up, so I think I will wait. I fear if I plant them now, they will expend all their energy sending up scapes instead of developing bulbs.

Best laid plans. Man plans and God laughs. (Not an actual quote of Proverbs 16:9).

It’s got me thinking about planning. I do a lot of it this time of year. Planning for Thanksgiving, for holiday activities, for family gatherings, for next year. And planning for the garden. What to plant, where, and when. What needs to be done before I plant. Lots of planning and scheduling.

Where is God in all this planning? He must be front and center. He controls the weather, so I need to be flexible for when He brings warmth and frost, rains and droughts. All my plans may be sidetracked tomorrow by a sudden illness or accident.

I spent one December homebound with two sick children. Pre-internet or amazon, so gifts were sparse. Not what I had planned.

This fall, a group of women and I are discussing “respectable sins,” you know, those ones we often laugh about – irritation, frustration, cynicism, vanity, pride, fear, worry. At root is often a lack of faith in God, His love for us and His knowledge of what we need. Sometimes, we fail to cede our will to His and instead tell Him what to do and get upset when he doesn’t do it. We stomp our feet and hold our breath, figuratively if not literally.

My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want, but what you want. Matthew 26:39.

Can you imagine? And I think a delay in planting my garlic bulbs is inconvenient?

What would happen if I didn’t plant them until December? Until February? Never? What if I didn’t have cranberries at Thanksgiving or never decorated my mailbox for Christmas? Are any of these things worthy of irritation or anxiety?

I still plan to plant my garlic, serve cranberries, and decorate my mailbox. But if none of that happens, that is okay, too. (At least, I plan to be okay with it!!) Because none of those things are important in the big picture of my relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. What is important is that I deepen my relationship with Him.

Jesus tells us to “Seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). I think of this as seeking first His presence. Not just first thing in our day, but also first in priority. More important than gardens, or menus, or decorations. More important than my plans. Easier said than done when I am caught up in the hustle and bustle of my desires.

Perhaps I will take a moment to wonder at the beauty of iris pushing through the ground and reaching for the sun in November. Maybe I will revel at the beauty of the leaves that still cling to the trees and feel the sun on my face. Perhaps none of my plans are as important as praising God for His goodness right now in this moment.

After all, who am I to questions God’s plans or think mine may be more important?

As God reminds Job:

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Job 38:4.

I’m inviting God into my planning this season. I’m asking Him what His plans are. I pray that I will conform my plans to His. Will you join me?

Love in Christ, Betsy

Tarps

For as long as I have had a garden, I have had weeds in my garden. My husband and I designed our garden space around the dimensions of weed barrier cloth, but that only keeps the weeds suppressed under the cloth. They soon resurface. I have spent hot hours pulling weeds. I have paid others to pull them. I have even considered elevated beds so grass from my yard wouldn’t invade my garden space. Of course, I would have to fill the raised beds with weed-free dirt, which probably doesn’t exist.

My efforts may have kept weeds at bay or out of sight for a while, but they always come back. I know people who love to weed, love to see the pristine results of their daily diligence. But daily diligence is not my strong suit. I reserve what little talent I have for that to devotional time and brushing my teeth. Nothing else receives daily attention.

So, there have always been weeds in my garden.

I am trying something new (to me) this year – occultation taps. These heavy-duty tarps block sunlight, UV rays, and water. The white underbelly of the tarp heats the soil, so the weed seeds germinate, and then kills them, leaving you with a weed-free garden to plant. Fingers crossed.

I put the tarps over my garlic beds about a month ago while it was still warm. I plan to plant garlic within the week, so we shall see. I also covered the sugar snap beds. Although occultation is only supposed to take a few weeks, I will leave my sugar snap beds covered until I plant them in late February or early March. Hopefully, we will have enough warm days over the winter for the tarps to work.

These tarps aren’t cheap or particularly easy to manipulate. It makes me wonder about the lengths I will go to get what I want, without submitting to the proven method of daily weeding. Is this stubborn orneriness? And if so, where else does it raise its head?

If you have read my musings for long, you know that I often talk about weeds. Perhaps I should spend more time talking about the wonders and joys of having a garden. Just before I took the above photo, I picked five ripe raspberries and one ripe fig from my garden. A November gift. Sweet and juicy, they were a divine reminder of why I have a garden. The fruit is worthy of any and all aggravation.

When we talk about the Christian life, what do we talk about? Do we only talk about the joyous fruit of communion with God, the times when we sense His presence, feel His love, hear His voice? Or do we talk more about the struggle of not conforming to the world, of keeping the weeds of self-interest, pride, and irritation at bay?

Neither one tells the whole story. Because, like my garden, the Christian life contains both glorious fruit and troublesome weeds. Green pastures and valleys of shadows, wondrous feasts and the presence of enemies. (Psalm 23)

I fear we tend to emphasis one over the other. I know a woman who couldn’t go to her big screen church after her husband died because she didn’t feel joyous enough to worship God. I know a man who attends a church where discussion is discouraged and congregants are spoon-fed “correct” answers to complicated issues. And I know that I am prone to dive into the struggles and difficulties and fail to share the absolute joy I find in communing with God.

I look forward to a weed-free garden. Until then,

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35.

Love in Christ, Betsy