Dear friends, This month, The Redbud Post tackles a scary topic: vulnerability. Think about a country building a defense against invaders. It wants to make itself invulnerable, doesn’t it? Don’t let anyone in who might hurt us. Where are we vulnerable? Shore it up. Well, with a country, that’s a good idea, but with relationships,…
I’ve always loved a good story. I lived in my head a lot when I was younger, always forging stories about mysteries or romance or faraway places. From the time I was in middle school I knew that I wanted to write some of those stories. And then life interfered and, although I majored in…
It’s been more than 50 years, but I can still picture the scene: my family sitting at the dinner table when the phone rings. My dad answers, not saying much. And then the pronouncement: our sweet little dog, Ginger, was gone. I was very young, so I didn’t understand everything, but I understood that I…
There’s a bumper-sticker slogan that says, “If God seems distant, guess who moved.” Pithy, right? But not very helpful. We often struggle to feel that God is near. Hardships, depression, busyness, pride. These are all things that can veil God’s face to us. When the skies are blue, we feel we can see God more…
Dear Readers, William Wordsworth once said, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” Even though spring is bursting with new life, evoking powerful feelings, it has a tranquility about it as well. Doesn’t spring just inspire poetry in your heart? Songs, poems, spoken word pieces….
Dear Subscribers and Friends, It is with a heavy heart that I want to let you know about the loss of The Redbud Post’s editor-in-chief, JoHannah Reardon, on February 4, 2021, after an 18-month battle with cancer. JoHannah was a longtime Redbud Writers Guild member and had been the editor-in-chief of The Redbud Post since…
Katherine James, award-winning novelist, missionary, faithful follower of God, endured a nightmare no parent ever asked for. And she and her family came out of it with more hope than ever before. In A Prayer for Orion: A Son’s Addiction and a Mother’s Love, James poignantly, honestly, heart-wrenchingly, and faithfully recounts the story of her…
What’s that old saying? Man makes his plans and God laughs? My husband, David, and I had talked about dreams we had for our empty-nest years: Taking our tandem bike to several exotic destinations. Opening a unique bed-brunch-and-bikes place (since I’m not a morning person, the breakfast idea wasn’t going to fly). Selling our house…
The tables were all set with festive tablecloths and centerpieces, and light twinkled from votive candles as we awaited the arrival of our guests. Christmas was in the air. As more than 40 of our close friends gathered in the warm Florida December evening to celebrate the birth of Jesus, I addressed the group to…
Our firstborn was about to enter kindergarten. We had struggled and prayed and labored over the decision of where to send him to school. I was pregnant with our third child, who was due soon after school was starting. The idea of a public school where I could just drop him off and be done…
Tradition! To some, this word brings up images of Tevye dancing in the streets in Fiddler on the Roof. Though we laughed at his insistence that tradition meant everything, many feel the same way now about the musical church traditions with which they grew up. I was raised in a Catholic Church in my youngest…