Can I be Cliché?

You know the old’ cliché, “I don’t mean to sound cliché, but…would you pardon me as I purposefully be cliché? I know, I know-as writers, we’re supposed to “avoid them like the plague.” Please don’t get your “knickers in a knot” or a “bee in your bonnet.” It’s always good to “think outside the box” during times like these.

I know I’m not “over the hill”, “older than Methuselah”, or even as “old as dirt” YET.  And thus far, “laughter has been my best medicine.”  I’m a “chip off the old block” and work hard to “keep my chin up.”

And for the rest of us? Only “time will tell” if we all choose to actually “live happily ever after.”

I’ve seen the “writing on the wall” and some are “scared out of their wits.”   In the face of so many challenges it’s also evident that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

Knowing that “time heals all wounds” and that “every cloud has it silver lining” help solidify my faith in the unknown.  Truly I know the “grass isn’t always greener on the other side”; therefore, I’m working diligently to “water my own grass.”

Times like these seem to “last an eternity.”   And sometimes I relish in the fact that “ignorance is bliss.” But I also know it’s wise to “be safe than sorry.” 

“You can’t please everyone” when dealing with such crisis situations.  Some of us are living “frightened to death” and some know “nothing lasts forever.”

It’s true that “love is blind.”  God truly loves me despite everything.  So far, “what hasn’t killed me has made me stronger.”

There’s “no time like the present” to allow our “actions to speak louder than words.”  Though we may wear a mask, are we smiling with our eyes?  Though we may not handshake, are we gesturing with encouragement?  

Do you think all this “absence will make our hearts grow fonder?” 

“Only time will tell” …

Have faith 💚

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Pictures taken on my hike at Ruth and Paul Henning Conservation Area, Branson, MO 4/7/20

Celebrating the Empty

Unlike any other Holy Week many of us have known, this one truly began with an “emptiness.” Specifically, churches across the globe had empty seats on this Palm Sunday. Our businesses, streets, and stores are almost empty~as schools and too many more places to mention. Are our hearts feeling empty?

Do we really know what it means to sacrifice?

Does this week look empty on your calendar? Nearly 2,000 years ago, Jesus had a line-up of situations during this week I’d rather not face. It started beautifully as he entered Jerusalem on this day. Can you hear the Hosannas? Can you see him riding the donkey through the gates and the fanfair all around him? The palm leaves and hands waving and bowing at his presence? JESUS KNEW WHAT WAS COMING. There would be a trial, a beautiful supper, prayer time in the garden, a betrayal, an arrest, and a crucifixion.

In the garden, Gethsemane, he felt 100% like us. He felt sadness, anguish, and isolation. He was in AGONY. “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want YOUR will to be done, not mine,” he prayed (Matthew 26:39 NLT). It grips my heart. This prayer touches me more deeply than any other.

As we spend this week focusing on the last week of Jesus’ earthly ministry, may we remember this-one week from today we will CELEBRATE THE EMPTY!When that stone rolled away, the tomb was EMPTY. And that vacant tomb gave us victory if we so choose! Jesus lived a sacrificial life, dying at age 33~selflessly for humanity’s sins.

I believe in a hill called Mt. Calvary,
I believe whatever the cost
And when time has surrendered
And Earth is no more
I'll still cling to the Old Rugged Cross

I believe that this life with its great mysteries
Surely someday will come to an end
But faith will conquer the darkness and death
And will lead at last to my friend

I believe that the Christ
Who was slain on the cross
Has the power to change lives today
For he changed me completely
A new life is mine
And that is why by the cross
I will stay

Written by William J. Gaither/Gloria Gaither/Dale Oldham



Do you think 2,000 years ago Jesus would have abided by the “social distancing” and “stay at home” mandates? He was the man who mingled with lepers and the diseased~the dirtiest, the messiest, and the cleanest of humans. Some were blessed to touch just the hem of his garment. Are you reaching for it?

I believe he’s walking among us now. We’re never isolated. We’re never alone.


Have faith 💚