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By Kristin Burns Growing up on a farm in Northwest Illinois, I always found myself embracing the simplistic beauty and abundance around me. Every season on the farm was beautiful in its own special way – the rolling fields of green in the summer to t…
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By Jennifer Bailey We learn, when we are small, that other people at the holiday table don’t see what we do. We learn that a flower bouquet blocks Auntie from seeing the salt. At some point we realize that our brain takes signals and renders what it…
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By Christine Lassers I am a proud mother of three wonderful children who at this time have a long list of things they want for Christmas. Our tree was up weeks before Thanksgiving – partly to give our youngest son, Teddy, a chance to “warm up” to it …
By Lee Marbach Life is fast and has the tendency to accelerate as we move through the years. Endless task lists, responsibilities and connections to maintain. Reflection is something that we struggle making time for, so I challenge you today to look…
By Scott Teasdale Walking. I see so many walking to get somewhere else. It is not for the journey, the faces are many yet indistinguishable, it is rather an act of moving to a place somewhere else. If all walking were, in fact, talking of Michelangel…
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By Kerri Rehn On a sunny day in June when I was 17 years old, I was home alone, singing and playing the piano (very loudly, no doubt). I had mastered several of the songs in my Disney songbook, and that day’s mission was to conquer Someone’s Waiting…
Seven years ago, when the Stewarts first moved to the Quad Cities, they sat down together as a family of four for Thanksgiving. It was a nice holiday. But Eric, Rikka, Aron, and Jordan decided they wouldn’t do that again. Every year that they don’t t…
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By Dylan Engelbrecht It is September 22. My birthday was yesterday and it was a great day. Today I will work on my Christmas list. I must get it sorted and prioritized based on what I received yesterday. I will then distribute it soon to the many fam…
By Beth Heston When I agreed to write this devotion, I thought it would be easy to express my feelings about the wonder and joy of God’s love. Writing this has really made me think about what that means. I look back on my happy childhood and all the…
By Dave DeWit I encountered a certain amount of rejection in my earlier years, and I still have difficulty imagining why God, or anyone else, would love me. And I still have to admit that if I were God, I certainly wouldn’t love me. I wouldn’t even l…
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By Jerry Fisher It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was driving to Des Moines for some meetings on Monday. I had just crossed the North Skunk River, when a semi passed me. It wasn’t long before the semi slowed down and was once again alongside me….
It’s no secret to those who know me that I love to sing. The first thing I did when I moved to Davenport eight years ago was join the St. Paul Chorale. Through that group I got to know the rest of this community, and began making a home here. Advent…