April 2015 archive

Picture This!

A picture sometimes takes you to forgotten places. Memories can be quickly triggered by seeing pictures from our past. And our memories are rich with images, emotions and even experiences of pain and pleasure. During our coldest Minnesota winters, some friends in southern California will text me pictures of warm, sunny days, saying, “Picture this!” Evoking comforting …

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The Ultimate Anger Management

Children are not supposed to die before their parents.  It’s out of normal order, which helps explain the depth of pain we parents feel. Fortunately, it’s also a rare event for most families. So it’s understandable that I get asked a lot of questions about dealing with the loss of a teenage son. One of …

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Forgiving is For Giving

Is there someone in your life that you know you need to forgive? Maybe they did something mean that hurt you deeply. Maybe they refuse to apologize. Maybe they continue to do things on purpose that they know will hurt you. It can be so hard to forgive someone when we grow bitter and angry …

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Counting Down on Purpose

There is something terribly serious about a countdown. Counting down means that there is an important event anticipated. And a countdown, by definition, means that there is a limited amount of time before that event happens. Our lives are full of countdowns. The media begins counting down the months and days before an election; our …

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Things Will Start Looking Up

The picture I chose for this post admittedly makes me sad. I don’t like to remember Elijah as being sad, but it reminded me that sadness is infectious. When we feel down, it’s easy to bring others down with us. As an emotion, ‘up’ and ‘down’ are charged with positive and negative feelings. We judge ‘up’ as …

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Nowhere to Hide

  What is it about playing Hide-and-Seek that kids love so much? Even before kids can walk they love to play Peek-a-Boo with a blanket or with their hands over their eyes. They seem to marvel at the thought that once they cover their eyes no one is able to see them. Their delight is infectious …

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Catching an Earlier Flight

Fear not. Elijah is not really flying this aircraft. But seeing him in the cockpit reminded me of all the people who were able to travel over the past few weeks of Spring Break. Who doesn’t get excited about escaping the pressures of daily life to enjoy a little rest and relaxation somewhere fun and exotic? We …

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Hoping for Rescue

This has been an eventful Easter weekend. We officially celebrate life on the positive side of resurrection Sunday. Because of the empty tomb, we have hope for being rescued from sin and despair, and ultimately from death itself. But on Good Friday, hope was fleeting. Even upon the cross, Jesus famously quoted from Psalm 22, saying, “My …

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“Goodbye is not forever”

(Re-Posting the TwinCities Pioneer Press Easter Sunday Article) Many visitors to this site will not be aware that the TwinCities Pioneer Press newspaper carried a front page Easter Sunday article about the impact of Elijah and featuring divinefingerprints.net.  I am re-posting the article here. We are thankful to the newspaper and to Molly Guthrey for her …

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Surviving to the Other Side of Easter Sunday

  Today is Saturday. Over the Easter weekend, this day is the dark day between Good Friday (the death of Jesus) and resurrection Sunday. Sometimes I like to imagine what it was like to be one of Jesus’ twelve disciples. Today must have been a day of darkness and despair. The pain of Friday is …

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