Christmas Card Friendships

By Kathy Willis

Today I worked on writing notes in Christmas cards for our Sunday school class. Each one gets a special note, so it takes a while. I took a break and went to the mailbox to look for season’s greetings from my loved ones. If I’m being honest, I divide these greetings into 4 categories.

#1-Cards with preprinted names.

#2-Cards with signed names.

#3-Form letter looking back over the year.

#4-A personal note from the sender.

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Keeping What We Have

By Virginia Smith

I recently attended my first “anonymous” meeting to support someone I care about. Never having been involved with a twelve-step program, I was a little intimidated, as was the person I went to support. Though I never realized it, my unconscious attitude toward difficult personal struggles has been “pray for strength, but suffer in silence.” This meeting blew that attitude out of the water.

Eighteen people gathered around a table and talked openly about their addiction. They told how their lives had been destroyed, how their disease took over every waking minute and every ounce of attention. It became the focus of their existence. They spoke of losing jobs and homes and families, of bankruptcies and suicide attempts. I was impressed over and over by how transparent these people were. They held nothing back. Their words were stark, often harsh, and the pictures they painted made me want to weep.

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Books and Covers… and People

By Virginia Smith

You can’t judge a book by its cover. We’ve all heard that saying. I know it’s true literally. I received a book as a gift not long ago, and when I saw the cover, I thought, “Nah. That story doesn’t appeal to me.” Then a week or so later I became desperate for fresh reading material and opened the book. Wow. Within a page or so I was into the story, hooked by the author’s writing and the character’s conflicts.

Perhaps more importantly, the saying is true figuratively. How many times have I formed an opinion about people because of the way they look? Oh, I’m never rude. But have I missed getting to know a truly delightful person because I didn’t take the time to see behind the façade? Have I been put off by a scowl, perhaps? Or by clothing that isn’t “appropriate,” by my personal standards? Have I discounted someone because they don’t speak my language well enough? Or because their beliefs aren’t the same as mine? Or even because I’m intimidated by the air of success they project? Am I missing some truly great stories because the cover doesn’t look all that appealing to me?

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Our DNA: The Fingerprint Of God

By Peter Lundell

People talk casually about their DNA and how it determines who they are. So I wondered, Is that something through which I can connect with God?

Under super magnification the DNA molecule looks like a spiraling ladder, commonly called a “double helix.” DNA is made up of four chemical bases linked like ladder rungs along the spiraling helix.

DNA contains the genetic instructions—twisted, compacted, and packaged into X-shaped chromosomes—that direct every nucleus of living cells. They might be human, animal, plant, even virus (though viruses act differently—they’re always bad boys). Humans have twenty-three pairs of chromosomes (including those pesky Y chromosomes responsible for all the men in the world).

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Anywhere But Where I Am

By Cynthia Ruchti

Alanna ran through the concourses to her gate, and then sat for nearly an hour waiting for the attendant at the desk to call her name from among the dozen other stand-bys hoping to get on that plane. She eyed the gates near hers. Denver. Detroit. Dallas. Des Moines. Duluth. All the “D” locations. Any one of them would do.

“Alanna Blake?”

She barely caught the announcement above the din of stir-crazy toddlers and people mid-conversation on their cell phones. “I’m sorry, Ms. Blake. This flight is full. All passengers have checked in. We have another flight later this afternoon, but prospects are iffy for that one as well.” “The destination doesn’t matter. Can you get me on a flight to…what’s boarding for other locations right now?” The gate attendant looked up from her computer. “Where are you headed?” “Anywhere but where I am.”

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