“The two hardest tests on the spiritual road are the patience to wait for the right moment and the courage not to be disappointed with what we encounter.” Paulo Coelho Patience is a hard lesson to learn. We live in a world of instant gratification which makes it even more difficult to be patient. We have learned that we can have a bowl of popcorn in two minutes where it used to take up to ten minutes for the pot to heat up and the kernels to start and finish popping. We ca

“You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water.” Rabindranath Tagore There are moments in life when we can see the dream clearly in front of us, yet still remain frozen on the shoreline. We stand there staring at the vast sea between where we are and where we long to be. We pray about it, think about it, talk about it, and imagine what it would feel like to finally arrive on the other side. But dreams are not fulfilled through observation alone. At som

“You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry, don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” Walter Hagen Growing up, I believed God was watching every move I made, waiting for me to mess up. The image I carried of Him was not one of love and comfort, but of judgment and punishment. Sunday after Sunday I sat listening to warnings about sin, mistakes, and consequences. It felt as though perfection was required and any misstep would bring disappointment from

“It’s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.” — Paulo Coelho There are moments in life when hope feels easy. The sun is shining, doors are opening, and everything seems to flow effortlessly. In those moments, believing in miracles feels natural. But what about the nights when the answers do not come? What about the seasons when prayers seem to echo into silence and dreams appear to drift farther away instead of closer? Those are the moments t

“Where there is great love, there are always miracles.” Willa Cather I have heard my whole life about God’s love for us. From childhood sermons to whispered prayers in difficult moments, the message remained the same: God loves His children completely. Job 34:19 reminds us that “He doesn't care how great a person may be, and he pays no more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all.” There is such comfort in that truth. God does not measure worth by titles, w

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.”—Henry David Thoreau A path through the forest is not created in a single day. It is formed by repetition. One traveler walks through the brush, then another, and another, until what was once wild and

“Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.” Winston Churchill There is something magical about watching a kite dance across the sky. I remember standing in an open field on a windy day, struggling to get the kite off the ground. The harder the wind blew, the more impossible it seemed. The kite twisted, dove, and tangled itself in frustration. Yet the moment I learned how to work with the wind instead of against it, everything changed. Suddenly it lifted higher and

"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." — Malcolm X This weekend, my friend’s daughter graduates from college. What an exciting moment to witness — the closing of one chapter and the opening of another filled with possibility, dreams and unknown adventures. There is something beautiful about seeing a young soul standing at the edge of a brand new beginning with the world stretched out before her like an unopened map

“Nature is painting for us, day after day, pictures of infinite beauty.” John Ruskin Late this afternoon it turned cloudy here in Colorado. The blue sky was overtaken by a huge black cloud that covered almost as far as the eye could see. It looked menacing and I watched it as I drove back to my friend’s house. It was getting late and I knew the sun was getting ready to set so I watched as the edges of the cloud were outlined in brilliance from the sun moving. I decided to

“The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” —Robert Byrne Out here in the wide-open spaces of the west, the sky seems endless. There is something about standing beneath such vastness that makes the soul begin asking deeper questions. Questions about meaning. Questions about why we are here. Questions about whether our lives truly matter in the grand tapestry of creation. I believe many souls are searching right now. Searching for hope. Searching for peace. Searching for pur