Beverly Joy Roberts

When I was a child,  I never had a doll house.  My siblings, neighborhood friends and me had to be creative so depending on the season, we built houses out of cardboard boxes, snow drifts or piles of leaves.  The thought of having a real doll house, club house or tree house was beyond my comprehension.  Doll house #1--a garage sale find. Now, I actually have three doll houses...for the grand-kids of course.  My son, recently told me that I'm one doll house away from a reality TV show--or needing therapy. But really...who can walk away from a doll house. Life in the doll house ...is perfect.  You have so much control over the placement of the furniture and people.  There's no fighting or anger in the doll house.  Everyone is happy, going about their daily business, cooking, cleaning, going to work, going on picnics and driving cars.  It's such an idealistic life in the doll house. A child's play usually circles back to things they know.  From the youngest

Silence is golden... remember that old saying.  When I was a kid, there was another saying that went like this, children are meant to be seen and not heard .  Ouch!  I'm glad that saying has fallen out of style. I have to admit, as a young mom, there were many times, at the end of the day, I was thankful to the Lord that my house was silent.  The busyness of the day had ended, and the sounds of babies crying, kids fighting  and me screaming (oops you didn't need to know that ) had stopped.  My grandma used to say this, "Ahhh.  Blessed quietness." Yes, silence is golden , except when we feel that silence coming from the Lord.  When God is the one who is silent, it doesn't feel so golden. Anytime people are in the mist of struggles; failing marriage, sickness, problems with children or grandchildren, death of a loved one, or a plethora of other personal issues--it may seem that the Lord is silent.  And on the heels of what we interpret as silence--discouragem

Occasionally, I've been know to exercise...okay...fine--rarely, if ever do I exercise.  On the few occasions that I've endeavored to be healthy, my exercise of choice was walking.  However in the past, I've dabbled in water aerobics, floor exercises, biking and lifting light weights.  Weights can be an excellent way to enhance your fitness.     Weights build muscle and have the potential to make a person stronger.  (So I'm told.)  Funny thing about me and weights--when they get too heavy, I lay them down. Actually, carrying weights too long can cause damage to your body.  This could ruin future work outs or cause the weight-lifter to quit.  I know this for a fact.  After three weeks of physical therapy, I learned my lesson.  The human body has a way of telling the exerciser...enough-already... step away from the weights !  Our spiritual body has a similar reaction to "weights."   Sometimes "weights" can serve as a perfecting tool. In Jame

My actual bounty. My family recently visited an apple orchard.  The first thing we did was tour the store.  The visual sights and smells inside were heavenly.  Carmel apples, different kinds of popcorn, ice cream, fudge, apples cider--both hot and cold, and of course, warm donuts.  We decided to pick apples before feasting on donuts so we bought the bag for apples and took the hay ride out to the orchard.  There were 13 of us in all.  As we searched for just the right apples...you know what we did?  We sampled the goods.  We tasted the apples; Mackintosh, Honey Crisp, Delicious, Courtland, and Fuji. There was one comment made more than any other.  It was, "Try this one..." Followed by a description of the flavor and texture of the apple. Only the ones who tasted the apples were able to share how they tasted.      Psalm 34:8 says this, "Taste and see that the Lord is good."  First the tasting then the living. In I Peter 2:3 it says... You have alread