At the age of ten, I remember opening the hall door and peeking into the living room. My eyes must have sparkled when the twinkling Christmas tree lights lit up the otherwise dark room. A gasp slipped from my lips, and I quickly slapped my hand over my mouth for fear I’d wake up everyone else in the house. The multi-colored glistening of the lights bounced off my new bicycle that stood by the tree. I couldn’t help but giggle with excitement. This scene would have made a great Christmas commercial. Knowing I’d been told not to open that door… 

I love Christmas. I love the festive decorations and twinkling lights. I love what the season represents and witnessing the giving nature in people flourish during this special time of the year. It’s so heartwarming to pull into a drive-thru and find out the person before you paid your bill or to go to a restaurant and discover someone paid for your meal. As I stood in line at the grocery store one day, I spotted a lady digging through her purse while the cashier waited for her to pay. A gentle nudging dropped into my mind that I should… 

With achy feet and tired backs from all the cooking and baking, we exhale a sigh of relief and fall on the sofa. Thanksgiving Day is over, and we have a slight reprieve before another festive family gathering takes place. Take a look at the behind-the-scenes work goes into making these holidays extra special. We sort through recipes for those festive dishes only prepared during the holidays. Make a grocery list, a long list, of all the ingredients needed to make each one. The grocery store is like a major highway with no traffic lights. Long lines at the cash register… 

“Oh, Loretta, you should make a book out of all your poems,” a friend said. “Who? Me?” My hands grew sweaty, and I choked back feelings of incompetence. Fear gripped my throat, and a shaky voice slipped from my lips. “Ah, thanks, but I don’t know anything about publishing. I just write poems when I feel inspired, and I share them with family and friends.” The thought of putting my poems into book form almost made me hyperventilate. They weren’t your typical prose, nor were they written with literary intelligence. I just wrote the way the words flowed from my… 

What does it mean when I say, “Expect more?” Doesn’t that phrase sound greedy? Yes, if you look at it in the sense of material things, but I’m talking about us, as human beings. It’s easy enough to give up on commitments, goals, and promises, but don’t ever give up on yourself. You are created in the image of God. You are a child of the King. You belong to a royal priesthood. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Life in the earthly sense has a way of kicking you when you’re down. Your countenance plummets,… 

Most everyone who has the desire to become successful in an occupation must follow the start-move-grow plan. Without starting there’d be no reason to move forward in the learning process and grow in your gift. We must find the one thing that captures our attention and makes us happy. Take me, for instance, when I felt the call to become a writer, I sat at my computer and let my fingers dance across the keyboard. It never occurred to me there were different methods of writing and specific styles in punctuation, like The Chicago Manuel of Style or The Bedford…