By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer So many people in our society today are mesmerized by the video in their palms. They look down at their phones – not up. Like most of the people I’ve seen waiting in airports, they’re not paying attention to what’s going on around them. …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I’m going to miss December’s decorative Christmas lights shining into the night from homes and streets. One of my favorite displays this year was a small farm whose owner outlined the entire peaked barn, farmhouse windows, and pasture fences. What a beautiful thing to …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Today is the fourth and final Sunday of Advent, a four-week tradition that marks the coming of Christ. We have looked at the themes of Hope, Peace, and Joy. This week’s celebration focuses on Love. The Bible says much about love. It is the …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Eight hundred years ago near Greccio, Italy, St. Francis of Assisi celebrated Christmas by assembling a living nativity or creche. He used live animals for a depiction of Christ’s birth, hoping to draw attention to the advent and away from secular materialism of the …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer An advent wreath was not part of our Christmas traditions when I was growing up. We didn’t light advent candles during the holidays or talk about what they meant, so learning about advent as an adult became one more thing on my to-do list. …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer The young Jewish woman we think of each Christmas must have been an equestrian of the highest order, riding full-term over rough ground on a donkey. Twenty miles a day for more than seventy miles she and her fiancé traveled so they could be …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Eleven years ago at one of my earliest book signings, I sat behind a little table near the front of a Colorado Bible/book store, surrounded by everything Duck Dynasty. Talk about a duck out of water – that was me. My book had nothing …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Strength and rest have long seemed like contradictory concepts to me. Rest is sedentary and strength is active, right? Not necessarily. I’m currently reading a novel, Where Trees Touch the Sky, one of Karen Barnett’s National Park Novels. The quiet strength of the West …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I wish I had known my grandmother when she was a young woman with long russet hair and ankle-brushing skirts. I wish I could have seen her dreams, her daily struggles, and heard the defiance in her voice when she said, “I will not …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Today I’m happy to introduce friend and fellow author Susan G Mathis with her latest release, Julia’s Joy. I hope you’re blessed. Weight of the Past – Hope for Renewal with Faith, Hope, and Love By Susan G Mathis In 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 we …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer I am often asked what advice I have for aspiring writers. My answer is always the same. “Don’t quit.” However, sometimes I say, “Never give up.” And often I elaborate: “Keep writing.” Sound boringly repetitive? I’m afraid so. But it is the kind of …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last Monday, the post office was closed for the observance of Columbus Day. I imagine the following day had a line of postal patrons stretched out the door and into the lobby. I have spent many post-Columbus-Day Tuesdays in a post office line. One …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer People who visit the Colorado mountains each fall to see the changing leaves learn how to position themselves in relation to the sun if they want the best picture possible. For the most vibrant colors and the bluest sky, they shoot with the sun …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer My kitchen is brimming with apples, and the choices abound as to what I’ll do with them: 1. Make applesauce 2. Make apple pie or cobbler 3. Make apple cookies 4. Make apple bread 5. Bake apples 6. Dry apples 7. Slice and eat …
By Davalynn Spencer @davalynnspencer Last fall, a cheeky tree squirrel ate the autumn decorations off my front porch. One evening I had two pumpkins and a clutch of Indian corn; the next morning I had one ear of corn with several kernels missing. And two hardened pumpkin stems. …