Wednesday, November 26, 2025

Dear God,

The moment I heard her thick accent on the phone, I knew who it was.  There was so much joy coming from the phone.  Matilda called to tell me she had finally received her green card.  More concerned for her children than herself, she had made sure they had become US citizens before her.  But today when she was awarded her green card, she just had to call to celebrate with me.

Although she said I had sowed a seed of faith in her, I knew the truth that her faith was always deeper and wider than my own.  When she prayed aloud, everyone fell quiet because we all knew her faith came from such a deep place.  We wanted to be near her God and indeed we were.

Today as we talked, we said we were singing a victory song after many hard years.  We knew to whom we sang our praise.

Holy God,

thank you

for faith,

especially the faith

of Matilda.

Thank you

for her faithfulness

and her joy.

Thank you,

Blessed God,

for being

our God.

Love, Andrea

Tuesday, November 25, 2025

Dear God,

Mercy is like candy.  It tastes so good.

In lean times when temptation led to sin, mercy seeped in and found me hungry for something more, something better, something clean and pure and beautiful.  Indeed, it tasted like the best food I had ever eaten.

Mercy is intended to feed the human soul.  Unlike any other thing, mercy is healing, reconciling, renewing, restoring and loving.  It feeds every space in the human soul, body, mind and spirit.  Nothing has that kind of power and it all comes from you, Holy God.

In this season of Thanksgiving, we have opportunity to pause and remember your mercy, O God, and every other gift you have given.  When we really focus and reflect, we realize our greatest gifts have come from you, not some Internet store.  Yes, indeed, mercy tastes so good!

Thank you,

Loving God,

for mercy,

for all

it brings.

Thank you

for giving it

to us.

Thank you

for every blessing

and inspiration,

Blessed God.

Yours, Andrea

Monday, November 24, 2025

Dear God,

I love the sound of silence in the winter because it gives me opportunity to hear divine footfalls.  I can see the quiet beauty of a season dedicated to divine mystery.  I can discover gentle movements of faith growing and transforming.

I love the idea of trees pushing their roots deeper in the soil in search of nutrients and minerals in winter encouraging me to do the same.  When I look out my window and see a fresh snowfall, I am filled with wonder, hope and joy.

I see your glory during the winter season and I feel closer to you then than any other time of the year.  As I prepare for Christmas in the season of Advent, I love the feeling of anticipation.  I walk more closely with you during this season, more than any other.

I am blessed and inspired this time of year and I am so very grateful to you.

Holy God,

thank you

for meeting us

in the winter.

Forgive us

when we growl 

and complain

during the winter.

Open us

to this

majestic season

of faith.

Love, Andrea

Sunday, November 23, 2025

Dear God,

This morning as I walked into the kitchen, I was wowed by the view just outside the patio door.  Shades of pink, blue, gray and white filled the sky.  I stepped outside and joined my heart with thanksgiving.  I do believe the sky was giving its best to say thank you to their creator.  That prompted the question of how I offer my best to express my gratitude to the same creator.

If only we walked intentionally and understood the message we are giving to those around us.  Do we smile at everyone?  Do we acknowledge others' work in the stores we frequent?  Do we give food to the hungry, kindness to the forgotten and love to the unlovely?  Do we let people into our lane as a good driver?  Do we pray for those suffering?  Do we live intentionally to show others our gratitude for life and our creator?

Thank you

for skies

that tell

their secrets.

Thank you

for messages

just outside

our window.

Thank you

for giving us opportunity

to express

our gratitude.

Yours, Andrea

Saturday, November 22, 2025

Dear God,

Early this morning I walked into the barely-lit living room and hugged my naked Christmas tree.  I breathed in its scent and felt its soft branches.  I prayed in thanksgiving for my 79th Christmas tree.

I love this season of gratitude, the time of Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.  I can add the whole winter season to all of that.  Why?  Because it takes me directly to you.  

When I think of Thanksgiving, the time of family, food and friendship, I am made grateful for love around the table.  When I hug my tree, I think of creation at its best, once a teeny seed is now a 9' Fraser fir Christmas tree.  Within days it will be arrayed with handmade ornaments, ornaments from differing parts of the world and ornaments that belonged to my parents.  Of course, there will be red beads and strings of tiny white lights.  An angel will sit atop the tree reminding me of angels from above and below. 

When I think of Christmas, I think of the mystery of grace, glory and joy.  At Epiphany I think of visitors who brought gifts and still do.  In the cold, windy and white winter, I get to sit and reflect upon the beauty of seasons that bring numerous gifts, especially winter.  I love snow, the cold and bare branches.

You see why I love this season, O Lord, because I see you in every tree, flake, barrenness, gift and blessing.

Thank you

for this

amazing and

beautiful season.

Thank you

for drawing me

and all

of us

to you.

Thank you

for this

wondrous year

already full

of wonder

and joy.

Love, Andrea  

Friday, November 21, 2025

Dear God,

My heart is filled with joy not because all is right and well in the world or in my personal life.  It is because I live in you.  Each day I step inside your love and friendship.  I lean on you for love, acceptance and compassion.  I breathe the air of faith.

You teach us to rely on you, to trust in you and to wait with you.  Few things happen quickly or the way we want them.  But the wait of faith is one that can keep us buoyed up because in our daily walks together, we have time to talk and listen, to look around and to see what you see which is always higher, wider and deeper than we are used to seeing.  We can look to you for the deepest joy, the deepest peace and the deepest love, the kind no human person can offer.  And when we do this, we are filled to overflowing allowing our joy to become contagious spreading like a morning breeze on a very hot day.

Thank you,

Gracious God,

for the gift

of faith.

Thank you

for your lessons

of faith.

Teach us

to be

wide open

so we

will catch

every little nuance

of faith.

Yours forever, Andrea

Thursday, November 20, 2025

Dear God,

Hope is a remarkable thing!  It can appear suddenly out of nowhere and when it does, it is like the sun that shines bright after a storm.

Right now in our country and world, it seems there is little room for hope.  Daily we are bombarded by ugliness, hatred and lies.  For many people that brings uncertainty and fear.  When such emotions arise, it is hard to imagine there can be anything else.  But hope lingers, waiting to be discovered and received.

The questions we always have to ask is what is hope?  What does it look like?  Is hope a wish list or a practical reality?  Even more, is it trust in something bigger than us, our wants or wishes?

I lived in darkness for quite some time.  Hope felt dead to me.  I couldn't envision there being anything but despair.  But the longer the darkness and desperation remained, the less I wanted something specific and the more I just wanted hope to have something to cling to. Then one day it was like the earth shifted and I shifted too.  Hope rose up within me.  I could breathe again.  Although my situation had only changed a little, I knew I was going to make it because I found hope is a living thing, a light that never goes out.  And sometimes that is enough.

Thank you,

Compassionate God,

for the gift

of your mercy.

Thank you

for every gift

you give.

Thank you especially

for hope,

the light

of the world.

Yours, Andrea

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Dear God,

When I reflect upon my life, I can see places where I hung around too long, those periods where I felt stuck by psychological and emotional loss, pain and grief.  One place was for 27 years.  I was bitter and resentful.  But last week through a series of other losses, I suddenly felt relief from the past.  I let go of the bag of emotional stuff that had weighed me down.  I not only felt better; I was enabled to reach out to the central figure who had created the issues.  In some ways it was a miracle.

Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite authors, reminds us we are on a pilgrimage, not a chronological timeline.  I realize now I have been on a pilgrimage, on my way somewhere else where beauty, hope, peace, love and acceptance reside.  I just spent too long in one place.  Freed up from all that, I am on the move again right where you are leading me.

Thank you,

Gracious God,

for insights

of the body,

mind and soul.

Thank you

for taking 

up residence

within me

even while

I was misplaced.

Thank you

for the nudge

to move on.

Yours, Andrea

Tuesday, November 18, 2025

Dear God,

There are many ways to turn out the light, turn off the light or pull the plug to the light.  That is to avoid the light, deny it or pretend it doesn't exist.  Your light is eternal, everlasting.  There is nothing we can do to destroy the light because no one can turn it off.  It is not possible.  Yet, our actions prove we often disregard the light that helps, guides, leads, warms and brightens our way.

There are many ways in which your light shines for us.  Like the air around us, the light is forever with us.  Even a truly dark, dark night can give evidence that the light is shining.  Try flying.  In our ascent toward the sky, we soon discover the light shining in the cosmos.  Even if we can't see it at ground level, we know the stars still shine.

When we find ourselves in the dark or we lead lives in the darkness, we need to pause but a moment to acknowledge the light still shines to unblind us, to lead us toward light with grace and hope.  It is a constant reminder that we are not alone for the light is always with us, just as you are, Light of the World.

Holy God,

thank you

for the blessing

of light.

Thank you

for breaking through

our darkness

to meet us

in the light.

Lead us always

to you

where the light

is eternal day.

Yours, Andrea

Monday, November 17, 2025

Dear God,

What is hope but trust in God?  When I hope for snow to fall on Christmas day, I want it to show up to make me happy.  But that kind of hope is foolish.  Why would I have such an expectation that cumulous clouds would drop snow to make me happy?  

Authentic hope is linked to essentials for living.  I can hope to live through surgery, forgive my brother and find joy even during hard times.  This kind of hope is tied to faith.  Hope that rises out of faith offers more than snow at Christmas.  It provides peace, courage and strength.  When I build hope coming out of faith, I build a resiliency that can take me through any kind of situation because I know you are at the center of my hope.  My hope grows because my faith grows.

These days I am leaning heavily on you.  I hope for peace for many people affected by horrible political policies.  This kind of hope takes me to the grocery store to buy food for the hungry.  It causes me to be a person of light for those who feel their existence is living in the darkness.  In other words, hope changes me to offer hope to others.  This kind of hope makes us partners, you and I, because we can make hope visible to those without it.

O God,

I so

want to

walk with hope,

not so much

for myself

as for others.

Make me strong

with hope

so I

can help 

build hope

for those

living without it.

Make your hope

fall on all

of us,

I pray.

Love, Andrea

Sunday, November 16, 2025

Dear God,

In the darkness of this early morning a thought came to me.  A life, well lived, is a love letter to you, to others and to the world.  That prompts me to ask the question: What kind of letter am I writing?  

I feel the sting off conviction.  I am impatient, easily frustrated, often untrusting, many times unforgiving and easily angered over things that are troubling to me.  Not a letter anyone would want to read.  And yet, there is another part of me, one that shines light in the darkness.

Yesterday I attended the memorial service for a family member whose husband could not come because he was in the hospital.  I confess I have been angry with him for decades over his corrupt behavior with my parents, one of the biggest messes I ever had to clean up.  As the truthteller and cleaner upper, I was deemed a liar.  Although I wrote him a letter years ago, one of forgiveness, I realize I still hang on to my loss, judgement and anger.

But yesterday just as the service began, you came to me in a whisper.  You invited me to text the man, to express my concern for him alone in ICU and to offer a prayer.  I typed a brief note to him and sent it.  He texted back with a simple thank you.  All during the service I texted and sent him pictures of his son and nephew speaking about his wife of more than 50 years.  At the end of the service, I took pictures of collages of photos of good times and good memories.  I sent them all.  A little later at his niece's home, I called him to tell him about the service.  I told him I loved him.

I wish I could say I plan to change my life but in reality, at 79 it is difficult to teach an old horse new tricks.  However, yesterday showed me I am capable of changing the content of my letter.

Merciful God,

thank you

for tending

to my soul

while tending

to another's.

Thank you

for helping me

write my letter.

Please help me

put more love

in my letter

and in

my life.

Love, Andrea

Saturday, November 15, 2025

Dear God,

Is a leaf just a leaf, a star just a star, a bird just a bird?  In today's society we spend little time pondering the things of human life.  For many the answer to the question is yes, of course, silly.  But the truth is that leaves, stars and birds, to name a few, are much, much more than what they seem.  They are all carriers, messengers of hope, peace, joy, love and beauty.

On the surface, life can be very simple and straightforward.  Each thing is what it is, no more, no less.  But in complicated times, difficult times and uncertain times, we need to take a new look and reflect.  If we are open and truly give it time, we will begin to discover the deeper dimensions of simple things.  In doing so, we can come to realize all of life is deeper and wider than we ever imagined.  In troubling times, we can visit the little things to find what we need to sustain us and give thanks.

Holy God,

we need more

from life

than what

we take

from it.

We need

to see

from the view

of eternity.

We need

to see

as you see.

Help us,

O God,

to cling

to you

and know

your truths

of human living.

Yours, Andrea

Friday, November 14, 2025

Dearest God,

Is loss fully loss?  Is whatever is lost lost forever?   Is it removed to never be retrieved?

The one person I could always rely on to love me was my grandmother.  No matter what I did or said, her smile reminded me her love was unconditional.  Her mercy was full of love, compassion and kindness.  But when she died and I could not find her to see her smile, to feel her mercy and to experience her hand upon mine, I was certain she was gone forever.  I grieved like a child.

One Sunday while in worship, I was thinking of Grandma.  All of a sudden during the singing of a hymn, I had a vision of heaven parting and my grandmother standing at the opening smiling at me.  Although the vision lasted only seconds, I realized she never left me.  She was still inside me, present and giving.  She could never ever really leave me.  Our relationship and love for one another was not just for a season until death but something of eternity.

Holy God,

thank you

for love

that is eternal.

Thank you

for the gift

of love

that never ends.

Thank you

for Grandma,

her way,

her smile

and her love.

Yours, Andrea

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Dear God,

The way to blessing and inspiration is the openness in one's heart.  More often than not, we keep that place closed off, hidden from view because it is safer.  It prevents hurt, embarrassment and unwanted experiences.  As long as we only peek out on occasion, we maintain distance and safety.

Yet, a life kept closed off leads only to safety but no further.  A protected life is one where nothing much happens.  One day slips into another without much ado.  

On the other hand, a life where the crack is widened, deepened and stretched is one where almost anything can take place.  Imagination, vision, possibility all has opportunity to live and grow, even explode with hope and joy unimaginable.  The ability to open the space is one in which we meet you.  You live there waiting to greet us to the possibility of the new day, the new experience, the new sight and sound.  We can see the world in a grand new way.  We can even look to the sky and see what we never saw before.

In today's world where it seems the world is shrinking with hope, we can join you at that opening and know that we know that we know something is going to happen and together we can skip and dance among the stars and know joy unspeakable!

Holy God,

let us

never believe

that life

is passing 

us by.

Help us open

the space,

discover you

and take steps

for a

new future.

Thank you

for the joy

of knowing you.

Love, Andrea

Wednesday, November 5, 2025

Dear God,

More often than not, we are looking for big things to save us...a better job, more money, a bigger house.  Sometimes we get those things but usually not.  And while we were waiting for them, we missed many signs and opportunities of salvation.  It really is the little things.

Little things can wow, inspire and bless in ways big things often cannot.  Like this morning when I stepped into the dark study and saw the beaver moon, I awed, watched and murmured my prayer of thanksgiving.  Little things cause our heart, mind and soul to shift, to open and to breathe better.  They spread news of your living presence.  Who else is providing a magnificent moon and holding it in their hands for all to see?

When times are hard and hope seems to be slipping away, we can anticipate and watch for the little things.  For that moment, that minute or that day, we will know the salvific presence of God.  This is your message to us.

Holy God,

no one cares

like you.

No one

gifts like you.

Remind us

to wait

and watch

for the

special little things

that are

coming our way.

Thank you

for the

beaver moon

this morning.

Love, Andrea

Sunday, November 2, 2025

Dear God,

There is nothing the human and divine will cannot do because the human will will always give way to the divine will which will lead us into the future.  There is a lot of wills in that sentence but that is exactly what I want to say.

I have discovered that a life of a single human will will only take a person so far.  I know because I have tried it and I traveled only so far in my life.  However, when I turned my will over to your will, a whole world, a whole way opened up.  My life was dramatically changed.  My courage, strength and power became something I could never have imagined.  

When we trust in the One whose will and love created us, we will have what we need to get through any situation in life, no matter how terrible.  There are many examples of those like Dr. Victor Frankl and Maya Angelou, to name two.  When we listen to their story, their witness and their faith, we find what we need for ourselves. 

You are 

the great source

of our life,

O God.

You unite us

with you

and we

are able

to rise up

in ways

we thought impossible.

Lead us

in this

dark time

to your

great light.

Help us

cleave unto you

so we

may become

one will

to help

our world.

Yours, Andrea 

Saturday, November 1, 2025

Dear God,

Although I have been away from my writing, I have not been away from you.  

Each day I look for someone to reach out to mostly strangers offering a greeting, a compliment, a smile, a kind gesture or some acknowledgement.  What I have discovered is we are all looking for a kindness of some kind.  We are desperate to know we count, are recognized and are valuable especially in a nation where right now few are actually acknowledged as special people.  Eyes sparkle, smiles appear and people pause to dwell for a few holy moments.  What I do for them always circles back to bring the same to me.

Why must we categorize people by putting them in boxes of favor and disfavor, good and bad and worthy and not worthy?  I simply do not understand.  Either we are all favored or none are favored.  Either all are worthy or none are worthy.  When we judge others by societal standards, church standards or political standards, there are only two boxes where people can reside.  But when we pause to look from a different angle, from your view of things, people and situations shift quite a bit.  In those moments we need to shift our own perspectives, practices and treatment of people.  

In order for us to be considered your beloved, then we must make room for everyone for you do not play favorites.  We must remember that you are greater than the bible, the church, priests and ministers, doctrine and beliefs.  You alone created creatures and called them your own, not just some but all. You made us.  We are yours.  

Remind us

that you 

know more

than we know.

You created faith

and provided us

with ways

to find you.

We may

not all 

call you

the same name;

you, however,

call us

all by

the same name,

beloved.

Teach us

to see

from your view,

not the

church's view,

not the 

priest's view,

not the 

president's view,

not our

own view

but yours.

Then help us

act as

beloved children

helping others

find their 

own belovedness.

Yours, Andrea