Tag: emotions

Articles, Consider the LiliesLeave a comment

Feelings on your shirtsleeves

Christine (Tina) Berglund

The tiny vase lapel pin that I usually wear on Sundays is now expected by my fellow worshippers. The little lantana that graced it on a recent Sunday caught the eye of one sister, who knows that I also like to share a photo of a flower every day on social media, calling it my “daily dose of sanity.”

“Well!” she exclaimed, “I see you have your ‘sanity’ here with you today, right on your lapel!”

“Yes,” I said. “Portable sanity! I love it.”

We both shared a laugh and a hug. Continue reading “Feelings on your shirtsleeves”

Articles, Final PhaseLeave a comment

Of dips and dales

J. Randal Matheny

Rousing successes and mountain-top victories are not the stuff of life. They do not produce life nor can they define it.

Elijah discovered this, post-Carmel, 1 Kings 18-19. Wise men warn against letting the dips and valleys of experience determine personal value and satisfaction; let them alert the foolish that neither can the peaks and heights of accomplishment.

Many seek to increase time spent on the slopes of success. They strive for the vibrant hills of a moving heart. But the tops can be, in their own way, as draining as the dale. For beyond the pinnacle lies the downward incline to the next dip. Continue reading “Of dips and dales”

Articles, Reality CheckLeave a comment

Follow your heart

Stan Mitchell

One of the silliest Hollywood slogans of all time has to be this: “Follow your heart.”

Really? Have you found your feelings to be particularly reliable? The last time you felt like giving someone a piece of your mind, was that a good idea? The last time you had feelings for someone not your spouse, was that a good idea?

“The heart is deceitful,” the prophet warns us, “and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Continue reading “Follow your heart”