Truth and Grace Above All Else

The Best and Worst Feeling When you think of waiting, what comes to mind? Maybe waiting in line at the grocery, waiting for a break in the rain so you can run to your car, waiting for the bus to arrive, waiting for the light to turn green, waiting for those last few seconds of the school day to be over, but no matter what you are waiting for there is going to be something to follow.  The Worst Feeling The phone rings and you see the hospital is calling. You have been waiting to hear the results of the tests. You hear what the doctor says and your face goes blank. Tears well up and your heart sinks. This was not what you wanted to hear, but after all this time your worst fears are confirmed.  You open your email and see the name of the company you applied to months ago. Emotions begin to stir inside of you and you click to open it. You read out loud what you hope you want to hear until you say, "...sorry...".  He said it was a large fire and that he would ...

Growth needs to be directed and maintained Having a few different hobbies keeps me very busy. Thankfully most of my hobbies require little to no effort to enjoy, except one. By far the most time consuming and enjoyable hobby that I take part in is growing bonsai trees. Yes, I know what you are probably thinking right now, "Oh, like Mr. Miyagi?". Yes, bonsai trees were popularized by the movie The Karate Kid , but that is not the reason I became fascinated with these almost whimsical plants.  I was browsing my Facebook feed one day and came across an image of a man holding a clay pot in the palm of his hand. Inside of that pot was a small tree that looked as though it was well aged and had a thick trunk to show how old it was. I became awestruck by this image and was captivated to the point of going crazy  over the other images I found of these delicate and beautiful plants. So about three years ago, I purchased a small kit to grow a tree from seed.  The pa...