During the COVID-19 outbreak, there are many advocating fasting as a solution to the problem. What could going without food have to do with stopping the spread of the virus?

There are people who lived years ago whom the world considered just ordinary people. But the lives they lived, and the influence they had, go on long after they’re dead and gone. Such was the life of my great-great-grandma, Mary (Marie) Elbert.

As fear escalated in January 2020 over what would become a global pandemic, and the store shelves became devoid of the necessities of life, I thought about the hard things of the past and realized that nothing stays forever.

God has allowed me to have this folder to make me strong for some future purpose. I am not going to mess up His plan by spending my days wallowing in self-pity.

As part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exhorted His followers: Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Sometimes our mind is subject to the whims of chance. Thoughts can come into our mind randomly, causing us to react emotionally. We are nudged to smile or lose our temper.

Last October, my mother, Charlotte Ann Despain Crandell, passed away after a prolonged bout of dementia. I have been gathering her history and have found treasures upon treasures of love and faith from this woman.

The Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit was a place of paradise with everything there for the taking. Living in a state of bliss, they got along perfectly. No disagreements, no frustrations, no adversity. But it is questionable if they were happy.

Sometimes I am puzzled at the respect we pay to the idea of falling in love. We watch television, movies, read romance stories and listen to songs in the media.

Being content calls us to reflect and cherish a spiritual gift we can choose to open. We each have the chance to accept and open up a vital dynamic relationship with God for our lives, for the present and for our eternal well-being.