Prayables - Psalm 137:5-6 - Scripture

Blog: Gold Earrings

I loved my mother-in-law. And I loved that she bought me gifts. In fact, for years, my mother-in-law bought me the same gift every year: earrings. Always gold posts, usually big and round. There was only one problem — I didn’t have pierced ears. Which was something I told her... over and over again.

Yet, I loved that she bought me those earrings, even if they weren’t something I could wear... or a style I might choose for myself. Returning them seemed sad; an admission that she’d failed. But no gift is a failure, not when it’s given from the heart. So I kept them all. And I turned them into lapel pins. And I wore them
with pride.

Now that she’s gone, I treasure her gifts even more. In my prayers, I praise her and give thanks for the years I spent knowing her and loving her. And as a tribute to the mother-in-law I loved, I made a sacrifice. I got my ears pierced in her honor!

-Lori Strawn

Joke: Hunter & the Bear

There once was a man who decided to skip worship at his family’s church one Sunday and head to the hills to do some bear hunting (as it had been his ritual for 15 years). As he rounded the corner on a perilous twist in the trail, he and a bear collided, sending him and his rifle tumbling down the mountainside. Before he knew it, his rifle went one way and he went the other, landing on a rock and breaking both his legs. That was the good news. The bad news was the ferocious bear charging at him from a distance, and he couldn’t move.

“Oh, Lord,” the man prayed, “I’m so sorry for skipping worship today to come out here and hunt. I swear I will be a faithful church-goer if you could just forgive me and do something about this bear . . . Please make a Christian out of that bear that’s coming at me. I would be ever-grateful to you Lord! Please, Lord, help!” That very instant, the bear skidded to a halt, fell to its knees, clasped its paws together and began to pray aloud right at the man’s feet. “Dear God” the bear said, “Thank you for this food I am about to receive!”