Ash & Evergreens

I was listening to a podcast recently and the woman who was sharing said that she had interacted with another woman at her church who said that she often makes a huge pot of soup and some salad, on a Sunday morning, and will intentionally look for people sitting alone in service to invite them over for a meal with her and her family. And. I. Loved. That. I have said this before, and I will say it again... invite singles over, even into the mess. Invite singles into your life, into the 'mundane' of errand running and laundry folding. Invite them to the athletic events and the theater performances. Let them be part of your family.  For whatever reason, the Lord has not deemed it time (now or maybe ever) to give them a spouse or family of their own, but they are ever much as created for relationship as someone who the Lord has deemed time to be married/have a family. And, for the love, quit seeing or telling singles that they are less valuable or that their lives will be incomplet...

I don't know if you care for country music at all, but there's a Miranda Lambert song called "Mama's Broken Heart" and the chorus goes something like:  " Go and fix your makeup girl, it's just a breakup Run and hide your crazy and start actin' like a lady 'Cause I raised you better, gotta keep it together Even when you fall apart... This ain't my mama's broken heart" Maybe you've heard people say, "Just follow your heart" or "you do you". Maybe you've heard song lyrics or speeches from a big stage where emotions and how to handle them were the focus. To some, 'emotions' may sound like a 4-letter word. You've come to understand that emotions and feelings are meant to be stuffed down, not shown, and therefore, not worked through. Yet, to others, you have so many emotions you don't know how to handle them all.  Whatever end of the spectrum you fall on, can I tell you today that emotions are a h...