Cathy's Heart

Rings, Bling, & Blessings "So, what are your treasured possessions?"   I don't remember how the conversation started. But, I clearly recall the question my husband asked me, on our Colorado road trip, as we crossed the majestically beautiful  Continental Divide .   It's a question the Lord keeps bringing up in my life, in the most random places. Like a few weeks later, when a homeless man bumped into me on a metro train in Los Angeles. I apologized for taking up two seats with my faux "Brighton" suitcase and computer backpack. His beaming smile caught me off guard, as he then apologized to me, "No, no! It's all my fault for not watching where I was going."   He settled himself in the seat across from me, carefully placing a large plastic bag between his legs, and hugging a tote bag close to his chest. He carried nothing but his bags filled with empty bottles and cans, an old cell phone, and a tattered paperback novel. After he was situated,...

Looking Back - A Few Things This Mama Wished She'd Done a Little Differently A small wooden magnet clung to my refrigerator, many years ago, with these words, "Lord, Grant Me the Patience to Endure my Blessings."   One day, as I unloaded my four small children from our big grey Suburban, and herded them to swim lessons, I watched the other mothers with their children. For some reason, I thought of that magnet holding up art work on my refrigerator door. Sadly, I realized the words on that little piece of wood described exactly what most of us moms do most of the time, simply "endure" our blessings.   That afternoon, with tummy's filled and my water-babies down for a nap, I grabbed the magnet and a black Sharpie. Then, I sat at the kitchen table, where I crossed out the word endure, and, above it, I carefully wrote, "ENJOY!" And, that became my prayer, for myself and other moms too.    Now, looking back 25 years, my children grown with families of t...