Picket Fences

  I am sitting in my car under the shade of a tree, drinking a coffee, and feeling discouraged. Tired. Hopeless. Frustrated.  Many negative adjectives will fit right now.  Shaking my head, I wonder if certain things are really worth doing if they only cause negative adjective feelings.  What answer can there be to what is stirring in my heart? There doesn't seem to be one. Except one -  Time. Oh, a hard one right now... Love. Sometimes in the fight, time becomes the answer. Whether it is time to heal. Or time to mourn. Restore. Rest. Develop. Finish. And love, love always is part of the answer. When time is the answer it can be hard. Time passes so fast each day, except when something is on my heart and mind, then it seems to drag. The clock seems to go backward instead of forward. The future looks tiring.  My friend had heard that when we worry about the future we usually see it without God in it. Hmmm - Seeing the future without God in it. So what happens when I put God

I know how fast life can change - forever. One moment life is going a certain way and the very next second - life isn't.   I remember the day, I walked up to the flagpole at my daughters elementary school, to pick up her up and bring her home after the final bell. I discovered someone's child in Portland disappeared from school. That was the first report. Today is the anniversary of that disappearance.  The boy has never been found. There is a lot of speculation of who did it, but what is most important is, he has NOT been found.  Each day the parents must awaken with the hope to find him. At the end of the day, I can imagine the devastating discouragement and pain when he is not found. It has been 12 years and how can a person ever lay that to rest?  Last week children were at school in a quiet small town. It was just after recess and the teacher found herself in a struggle with the door and a gunmen pushing into the classroom. The teacher tried to protect the children - then