View from the sheepfold
A SUMMER’S CHALLENGE
NEW BOOKS AND INTRODUCING MICHELLE I've learned that each season of life presents its challenges. As long as I'm living, I'm learning. As I learn, I grow spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. And I'm growing older, which presents its own challenges. The publication...
Hopes, Dreams, and Expectations
If you’re like me, you’ve had hopes, dreams, and expectations about your life from the time you were small. I wanted to be a nurse then a schoolteacher early in life. Today, I’m an author. “A dream is a wish your heart makes…” If you’ve watched Disney’s animated...
Heart’s Desire Facebook Launch Party
I've scheduled an online party for release day, July 27, 2021, 7:30-9:00 PM EDT. Go to my FB author page: https://www.facebook.com/bethewestcott(Heart's Desire Facebook Launch Party/Facebook)I'm stepping out of my comfort zone with this, but I'd love to see you there....
What Do You Do on Hot, Hazy Summer Days?
If you're of my generation, you probably remember when Nat King Cole sang about the "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer." When it's hot and hazy, and the heat and humidity sap your strength, it's tempting and sometimes necessary to be lazy. What's your favorite summer...
Rooted and Grounded: Planting Seeds
ROOTED AND GROUNDED: PLANTING SEEDS A seed contains the all the genetic information to produce another plant like the one from which it came. Isn’t it amazing how a tiny seed sprouts and grows into a plant many times larger and more complex? An acorn, a larger seed,...
Acceptable Words
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold In settings of silver.” Proverbs 25:11 2020 was a difficult and unsettling year, which included a pandemic and a divisive national election. Harsh rhetoric and half-truths stirred up anger and strife, even among followers of...
Flores de Noche Buena (Flowers of the Holy Night)
THE POINSETTIA There is a Mexican legend that a poor Mexican girl named Pepita had no gift for the Baby Jesus for her church's Christmas Eve service. Having nothing else, she picked a small bouquet of weeds and placed them at the bottom of the nativity scene. The...
CHRISTMAS BELLS
CHRISTMAS BELLS When you think of bells at Christmastime, what comes to mind? Jingle bells? Sleigh bells? Church bells? Hand bells? Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote his poem “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” during a time of deep personal and national turmoil. The...
How Do You Like Your Chocolate?
HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR CHOCOLATE? Mmmm. Hot chocolate on a cold day! Whipped cream on top? Or marshmallows? At one time known as "the drink of the gods," today hot chocolate is considered a comfort drink and is a favorite around the world. The characters in my upcoming...
Giraffe Story
A recent visit to Animal Adventure Park in Harpursville, NY, reminded me how much I love giraffes. Do you have a favorite wild animal? A granddaughter requested a giraffe story for her birthday several years ago. I did some research because I wanted the story to be...
Facing the Unexpected with Hope
Now this was unexpected! I planted sunflower seeds during the month of May. Like many flower-lovers, I looked forward to having sunflowers this year. They add a bright and bold accent to the landscape in mid-to-late summer here in New York, and they provide a...
What Do Your Words Say About You?
WHAT DO YOUR WORDS SAY ABOUT YOU? Do you remember the iconic scene in the movie The Miracle Worker, when blind and deaf-mute Helen Keller finally understands that the movements of Annie Sullivan’s fingers in her palm identifies the cool liquid pouring over her hand:...
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