By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer If you follow posts on my Facebook profile, you may have picked up on my love affair with morning. Pre-dawn, in particular. There is something intimate about standing outside in the dark, watching the eastern horizon begin to glow—the light grow—as the wings
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer What does our soul wait for? To be honest, wait isn’t on my list of “Fun Things to Do.” More often than not, I’ve classified wait with other (inappropriate) four-letter words. However, the image of someone watching for the sunrise lends an air
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Transition – ugh. That space between one place and another. Like a portal or threshold between what was and what will be. Like dying. I once heard a preacher say that death itself didn’t bother him. It was the “getting dead” part he
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer When we bump up against life’s fences, do we greet them with acceptance, or do we cry out at their hindrance and resent their delays? Sometimes those fences are raised for our comfort or protection. Without boundaries, bridge-walkers could fall, cattle would stray,
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer As spring approaches, I’m inclined to envy what I see happening in nature around me. Can people regenerate like the flowers and trees in their yards? I believe the answer is yes, and these three steps can help: * Forget about New Year’s
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer As a writer, it’s easy for me to digress into drama over everyday situations, and that’s exactly what I did recently. Through circumstances beyond my control, I was ejected from an important relationship. I was also dejected about another tentative relationship, and finally
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer My three-year-old granddaughter loves to play hide-and-seek. Without fail, her giggling or wiggling toes give her away. Mom and Dad can always find her. It’s like that with God. We, His grown-up children, think we can hide from Him, that He can’t see
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Chocolate and flowers abound in February because it’s the love month and romance is in the air. Greeting-card companies, candy manufacturers, and florists attribute much of their business to this short-on-days, long-on-love month. However, it takes more than candy and flowers to make a
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer My first year as a sixth-grade teacher, I sprinkled my classroom walls with quotes, pinning them around the room at student-eye level. One of my favorites was taken from a desktop calendar: “Some people find fault like there is a reward for it.”
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer No, you didn’t misread that title, nor did I use the wrong word—except rather than accept. People frequently confuse these homophones (they sound alike). “Accept” means to receive; “except” means to exclude, make an exception. Everything except this or that. An *Old Testament
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer It had been several months—a season, in fact—since I’d bought coffee at our church’s in-house coffee shop, and I needed a cup of pumpkin-spice latte. NEVER had I received an anti-splash sticker in the past. Maybe it was a new thing they’d started.
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last week my son posted a video of his drive to work in Cripple Creek, Colorado, along what is known as Shelf Road. (I shared it on my Facebook page.) There is a very good reason this byway is called Shelf Road, or
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer In 2016 I read several new-to-me authors along with my standby favorites. Not all their books were new releases; several were older. Today I want to share twelve authors with you that I enjoyed last year. The list is a mix of contemporary
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Help—my plate runneth over! Anyone else feel the same way? I don’t need One. More. Thing. To. Do. But neither do I need resolutions. I need a revolution—a change. A way to declutter, delete, and delegate some of the activities and obligations in
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Did Mary think, “O God—not here, not now”? Yet it was perfect. The perfect place. The perfect time. When we cry out, “O God—not here, not now” may we remember that a less than perfect place, a less than perfect time