The One Thing We All Have
I greeted the older gentleman as I extended the gift from our church group. “Hello there! We brought you a little something for Christmas.” The resident scowled at me and ignored the offering in my hand. “I can’t sleep with all this singing,” he grumbled. I smiled and made another effort at conversation that was dismissed as quickly as the first. The only thing
Dangerous Poison
I dropped mama off at her house and logged another twenty something miles to mine. The two of us had gone to Dallas to see my sister Rhonda and watch my nephew play ball. The weekend had been good, and long. It felt good to pull in my drive. I wanted to see Phil and Dixie Belle. Dixie met me at the top of the
Was Your Christmas More Griswold or “It’s a Wonderful Life”
How was your Christmas? Let me guess! Everything was picture perfect. It was like you were living in a Hallmark movie. Your house was decorated to the nines inside and out. Your Christmas cards turned out great. You addressed them elegantly, by hand, and sent them out promptly. You finished your shopping early and everyone was delighted with your exquisitely wrapped gifts and home-made bows.
Savoring as an Art Form!
What do you get when you bake chocolate muffins, top them with small mountains of peanut butter mousse frosting, and cool them in the fridge, before dipping them upside down into the type of melted hot chocolate that forms a hard shell over that melt in your mouth icing? Answer: Very, happy, All Things Southern baby czars, wired for sound. I’m pretty sure my daughter
Giving up the Perfect Prayer
Over the last few years I’ve met a ton of neat authors, many of whom have kindly shared some of their hard earned lessons in our industry. I’ve also been blessed with good counsel from agents and editors, but one of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever received has to be: “Don’t get it right, get it written.” The phrasing makes it easy to
Mary’s Messy Miracle is Ours
As I pen these words to y’all, one of my favorite Christmas songs is playing in the background. The words of “Mary, Did You Know?” were penned by Mark Lowry, the music written by Buddy Greene. Throughout the song, Jesus’ mother is asked a myriad of somber questions that never fail to grip me from the first searching query to the last. “Mary, did you
The “If I Die” App
Oh, the advantages of technology. I admit to being an avid Facebooker. I’m also LinkedIn, Twitter happy, Pin Crazy and sharing like mad on Muzy and Instagram. What can I say? I know social media has its detractors, but I believe it is what you make it. And yet, even I find this new development creepy times two. There’s actually a Facebook app that will allow
Give as Good as You’ve Got
I’ll need to pass out fake names and change certain details to survive the telling of the following story, but I’m game. We’ll go with Jane, Jen, and Jill. The three of us were hard at work on a common project when Jane smarted off to Jen and Jen snapped her back up in record time with twice the zing. Turning to me, Jill whispered
Forgetting to Remember
Once upon a time I worked as a drive-in teller for the bank uptown. Trusting your happy hostess with other folks’ money didn’t turn out well. Wait, that doesn’t sound good. I should clarify, quickly. The problem wasn’t my making off with anyone’s funds, it was my tendency to lose track of them and that’s not the sort of thing that will send you up
Igniting Smoldering Dreams
I had the most vivid God dream. If we had the time, over coffee, I’d tell you why I’m convinced of that. In this dream, I was playing basketball in a crowded gym before a raucous crowd that was literally lined elbow to elbow around the playing floor. One scenario kept repeating itself. I’d be dribbling up the court for a fast-break layup when I would
