Category:
Living the Faith
Hidden Thankfulness
Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t there. I’d like to thank all the people I never thanked. This could be a sweeping generality: family, friends, first responders, the lady cleaning the bathroom at the gas station where I stopped for gas. But, I have something more specific in mind. I’m thinking…
Time Wasted. (Learning Peace When Plans Derail.)
I’ve bet you’ve had a day like this too… and maybe it wasn’t wasted after all.
Heading for Takeout
There’s a saying in my family: When Janet heads to the kitchen (that’s me), then everyone else heads for takeout. I’m fully convinced I could headline on the “Worst Cooks in America” if I could just survive in the kitchen long enough to submit an audition tape. Some of my culinary mishaps are the stuff…
Thinking Sad. And How Not To.
Sometimes there are sad thoughts I have to think. Life, it turns out, is not always happy. But sometimes there are sad thoughts I don’t have to think… and I think them anyway. I bet this has happened to you, too: I could be going about my day seemingly fine and the next thing I…
Some Things are Worth Repeating
Instant replays. Silly jokes. Favorite stories. Oh sure, we may roll our eyes at the 200th telling… unless of course we’re the one doing the telling. When you’re reminiscing with a friend, the stories just get better with age. The memory can take you back until you can see it, taste it, feel it. The…
A Tale of Two Spreadsheets
God will use whatever is at hand to instruct us. Last month I mentioned I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time detailing spreadsheets. So I should have expected that my next lesson would come through a spreadsheet. It was another Friday evening and we were in the final crunch of a major event. I…
For Want of a Spreadsheet
It was a Friday evening and I was staring between two spreadsheets. It was like one of those children’s picture challenges where you’re supposed to find what’s different, only in this case the spreadsheets were supposed to match. Trying to find the difference was anything but fun. “Is this really all I have to show…
Today’s Forecast: Stormy with a Chance of Patience
Here in New England we have a saying: If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute. It will change. When I moved to the Midwest, I learned they have the same saying. And it’s true. I’ve seen the temperature flip from near 80 to below freezing in a matter of hours. I’ve witnessed rain,…
Crazed. Or Not. Finding Balance in the Midst of Extremes.
There is a good kind of stress. If you’ve always thought of stress as a four letter word in the plural, then this may come as a surprise. But it’s true. It’s even reasonable, once I stopped to consider it. An environment with absolutely no stress is an environment void of stimulation or purpose. As…
Oh Well
It was not a new joke. And it was not funny the first 400 times I heard it. Then one day, years later, the unthinkable happened.
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Meet Janet!
Janet Beagle, PhD is the founder of The Mustard Patch. She divides her time between the Midwest and New England, and if she’s not writing, she’s probably out hiking with her 2-and 4-footed friends.