He is Greater.....John 3:30 says He must become greater, I must become less"

 I reached a milestone recently.  It is one that is rarely noted publicly.  We all know I make a habit of identifying the elephant in the room whenever possible so it's that time again.  If reading about it makes the reader uncomfortable that only proves my point even more....and if it makes you smile and laugh then you get it.  What is it?  Menopause.  Not pre-menopause.  Not peri-menopause.  Full-on, transitioned through and now identified in my medical record as "post-menopausal".  I am a post-menopausal woman.  If you wish to know the definition of this you can look it up.  It has a clear definition.  I'm it.  It comes with a culture of its own, a list of feelings and thoughts and experiences and wishes and regrets and dreams and memories.  It has a lifeline of before, during and after....and it is rich with joy and sorrow, stories and ghosts, unmet needs and better than you could have hoped for realities.......

 Preface:  Often, I write as a way to care for my own sense of mental health and well-being.  Before I wrote on a blog I wrote in a journal ....but that often seemed pointless because I wrote to.....noone.  I am an infinitely relational person and it seemed so fruitless to write to myself.  I almost never re-read my own journals.  Usually I threw them away without ever looking back on them twice.....I wonder what beautiful thoughts I missed in reflection.  Conversely, I love re-reading blogs I have written.  I love it enough to read them over and over again because the words have power and purpose.....the words have not changed but the perspective has.  I now write when the Lord stirs me to.  I now write to someone.   The down side of blog writing vs. journaling is that it is public and therefore puts me and my life and my family in an incredibly vulnerable position.  I am acutely aware of this.  I have been since the...

 You know when you are scrolling down facebook and you see the photos of all those yummy recipes?  If you are in the mood they look good and if you are really hungry or really full they look really aweful.  Isn't that odd?  Lately I was in the mood and shared a bunch of warm, hearty recipes I'm sure many of you saw....one of them was a soup with smoked sausage, potato and sour kraut.  This one appealed to me for several reasons....it was wintery....hearty and warm and full of the things I like when its cold and dark outside.  Sour kraut is something I want to eat more of because it has many health benefits but I'm not super crazy about it, so I was challenged to try it in soup.  I love smoked sausage, a.k.a ring bologna.  My favorite school lunch as a child was ring bologna, tater tots, apple sauce and a chocolate chip cookie....all in seperate sections on the lunch tray.  With chocolate milk in a carton.  yum.   Tonight I made...

 I'm gonna write a bit about my monkey in the middle...my Jeremiah.  Oh how I love this boy.  Oh...   He is 17, a senior in high school and trying to figure out his version of "what's next".  We don't care, really.  He can go to school, or work....he can do trade school or university....he has so many options....and he just doesn't really know what comes next.  He lives in the moment and he feels things in big ways and he understands what matters deeply....what a blessing he is....an obnoxious, frustrating, imperfect and sometimes naughty blessing.  We don't do perfect here, folks, make no mistake.  But we do people and we do love the people we do.   Jeremiah was in a class at school called Woods.  He did Woods 1 and made some cool stuff...a box with a lid (I collect boxes so I loved this), a cutting board, a wooden spoon that I use all the time when I'm stirring things on the stove.  He had an assignment for his seni...

" Shout for joy, you Heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains!  For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones."     I have spent time this month in worship, remembering God's faithfulness, and standing in awe of His plans....I have looked at the past year and remembered the hard things and the sweet and good things and as I look ahead to this new year I am on this mountain....shouting for joy and bursting in song and also yelling out as loud as I can....oh my dear ones....He will comfort you and will have comfort on your afliction.  I promise.  I promise.  I've been there.  I'm sure I will take my turn once again soon enough.  I am coming out of a season of so much hard....and am acutely aware of the suffering around me.  It prickles and tingles like static in dry air....and when we connect I feel that little shock one gets when the air is dry.  Trust me when I say...shout for joy anyw...