Almost Spring
By Sherrill Schlimpert - Writer, Next-Step-of-Faith

April in Missouri – almost spring - April showers, a few perfect days…then an occasional freeze and having to cover your sprouting daffodils with trash bags. Sometimes my life feels like April – almost arriving, almost achieving, almost content…warm days that start and end with a chill – kind of like my successes that begin with anxiety, flow into a moment of satisfaction, then end with wondering whether I can duplicate the experience.

I want to learn to love April – not just as a gateway to spring, but for itself, for its tumultuous changes, ranging from gray, rainy cold to brilliant, clear sunshine. I want to learn to be content in all circumstances as Paul models in Phil. 4.

Instead, I often fight life, always looking to the full blossoming of May. Then in May, I end up waiting until it’s warm enough to swim. Then in summer, waiting for the cooler days of September and getting into the fall routine. Then in October being ready...[read more]

The Brown
Paper Sack
by Nancy Hughes
Writer, Next-Step-of-Faith

I could hear the excitement in their voices as they peeked from the window sill at the approaching truck. “Do you think he’s got them?” the middle one asked. A sudden intake of breath from the littlest one was followed with “Oh, no! What if he forgot?” to which the older, much wiser one replied “Of course he has them. He wouldn’t forget about....[read more]

The consequence of not finishing the laundry can sometimes be the privilege of using the last clean towel in the linen cabinet. I recently became aware of my incomplete task one morning while dashing to the shower. From the far reaching depths of the untidy closet came a relic of the past. It was once a gorgeous, thick, bright pink bath towel. It...[read more]