Mary’s Monday Morning Musings to Quilt Encouragement Contagious Enthusiasm             As I walked down the store’s center aisle, a man passed behind me and a smiling man in front of me called a jocular greeting to him. From behind, a cheerful answer rang out before the person disappeared down a side aisle. The smiling man

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Learn What Lies Underneath             Two fine men left this world for a better place this month. We gained the privilege of knowing these men and enjoying wonderful times with them, because they were the fathers of two of our in-laws. These men greatly enriched our lives with their

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Disappointment             Wham! Slam! A rejection slip from a publisher carries the power to dump a load of heart-sinking disappointment into a writer’s emotions. Everyone, at various times of our lives, experiences situations which powerfully collides with our desires and delivers a breath-gasping wallop of disappointment. No one is

  Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement   U-turns             The city’s layout was confusing. The GPS failed to show which way we were traveling. The signs designating the road names were hard to find.  Over and over again, we needed to make a U-turn in order to reach the destination we sought. We made

  Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Taste and See The little boy turned his head and his mother’s spoonful of pureed spinach smeared his cheek instead of entering his mouth. “He won’t even try a new food,” his mother bemoaned. His older brother had the same reaction to the sweet potato that sat untouched

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quit Encouragement Unruly             I didn’t see the child’s offense in the grocery store. I only saw the mother’s reaction. She grabbed his little arm and jerked the boy around to face her. “I told you not to do that!” Her face was grim, and her voice teemed with anger.  

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Enthusiasm   The child wore a fluffy pink skirt that swirled as she danced. She set quite an example of enthusiastic worship during our church service. Bouncing and stepping, she periodically swung one little leg out in front of her. She kept going, never stopping except when the music

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Food for Thought             The boy had some serious diet restrictions. The consequences of  mistakenly ingesting those prohibited foods, resulted in dangerous breathing difficulties, but he wanted to go camping with the other fellows. When Dad’s job allowed him to be home, he gladly accompanied him and made certain

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Roots   The ground is sodden. We’ve had rain, rain, rain every day this week as well as much rain over the weeks before. I’ve wondered if I should sow more grass in the low place in the lawn or release some gold fish in it. That humorous choice

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement A Hole in the Clouds             The cloud cover made the likelihood of seeing the lunar eclipse seem dim, but we drove to a nearby school anyway. At least from the parking lot, trees wouldn’t block the view of the sky. Once there, we realized the clouds blanketed most