Hopeful Living
Discovering unexpected treasures in ordinary and challenging days.Welcome! I’m Marilyn and glad you stopped by.
Lilacs are special to me—call it sentimentality or nostalgia, my grandmother had a beautiful lilac tree in her yard. If I daydream, close my eyes and inhale, I smell the fragrance even now.
Lilacs are a treasure and trademark of my hometown, Rochester, New York. Small slips of flowers were brought to the new world by early colonists and later developed by a horticulturist. Today, thousands of people from around the world, visit a park where over five hundred breathtaking and colorful lilac varieties cover twenty-two acres. As a child, I went to see an array of trees on Lilac Sunday in May.
Small snips from a backyard, acres of trees. Each in its own rite is an extraordinary treasure; small things that became significant.
Isn’t life like that too? Small moments and big ones, ordinary and challenging experiences? In each, we encounter treasures in unexpected places.
The simplicity of growing up in an ethnic family and gathering for “spaghetti on Sunday” with endless conversation, moving several times in my married life to unique areas, and the greatest challenge of my husband’s sudden fatal heart attack, have shown me the treasure of God’s faithfulness in all seasons.
If you want to know more about discovering hidden treasures in your life story, you’ve stopped at the right place. Together, we can find peace during a difficulty, wisdom for a challenge, learning through waiting, compassion when grieved, and hope when circumstances say otherwise.
You can find more of my story on my Let’s Connect page. I invite you to meet me over at my blog. I’d love to connect and have you join the conversation.
Marilyn
Welcome! I’m Marilyn and glad you stopped by.
Lilacs are special to me—call it sentimentality or nostalgia, my grandmother had a beautiful lilac tree in her yard. If I daydream, close my eyes and inhale, I smell the fragrance even now.
Lilacs are a treasure and trademark of my hometown, Rochester, New York. Small slips of flowers were brought to the new world by early colonists and later developed by a horticulturist. Today, thousands of people from around the world, visit a park where over five hundred breathtaking and colorful lilac varieties cover twenty-two acres. As a child, I went to see an array of trees on Lilac Sunday in May.
Small snips from a backyard, acres of trees. Each in its own rite is an extraordinary treasure; small things that became significant.
Isn’t life like that too? Small moments and big ones, ordinary and challenging experiences? In each, we encounter treasures in unexpected places.
The simplicity of growing up in an ethnic family and gathering for “spaghetti on Sunday” with endless conversation, moving several times in my married life to unique areas, and the greatest challenge of my husband’s sudden fatal heart attack, have shown me the treasure of God’s faithfulness in all seasons.
If you want to know more about discovering hidden treasures in your life story, you’ve stopped at the right place. Together, we can find peace during a difficulty, wisdom for a challenge, learning through waiting, compassion when grieved, and hope when circumstances say otherwise.
You can find more of my story on my Let’s Connect page. I invite you to meet me over at my blog. I’d love to connect and have you join the conversation.
Marilyn
New Year ~ New Plans
Happy New Year! Did you stare incredulously at 2022 when you turned the calendar page or watched the ball drop at midnight? My conversations with friends who have lived through several decades asked the same question, “Where has time gone?” The answer: same place it always has, starting at midnight and ending on the same, day after day. It’s...
Sustaining Personal Peace This Season
Are you running from one activity to the next and adding to your To Do list rather than checking things off? Does your impatience soar while you wait in a supermarket line or try to catch a sale that expires in minutes on a merchant’s online site? Maybe you’ve found yourself in the wrong lane during heavy traffic. Or, as a friend recently...
A Solution or a Remedy?
We headed up the mountains looking forward to changes in color along the highway. Our plan included a stop at a waterfall, lunch, and finding pumpkins. As we started out, our conversation was peppered with laughter and questions from two little boys in the backseat. All was well until we noted an emergency vehicle and clusters of people in the...
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“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16:11 (NIV)
