Lessons from the School of Life
“The difference between school and life?
In school, you’re taught a lesson and
then given a test. In life, you’re given
a test that teaches you a lesson.”
– Tom Bodett
Welcome to Monday Muse.
I have no idea what life lesson I will be sharing each Monday. It will either spill forth from the previous week, or be taken from a past experience, but I am sure of this; God will provide. Many years ago, when I was leading a spiritual growth/exercise class, I relied on Him to provide the weekly Moment with God. He never failed to do so – until midway through the course. That evening, as I drove to class, I reverently reminded Him, as I had several times before that day, that He had not yet given me anything for that portion of the lesson. Silence. Before the class started, one of the ladies walked in crying. Late that very afternoon, her life had fallen apart. Class was immediately postponed. We spent the time in prayer and consolation. Once more, God had exampled that He is faithful to provide, but wastes nothing. So, like you, if you are interested, I will be curiously waiting to see what lessons will follow.
Failed Witness
- Monday Muse - Dear One, after struggling with a back problem from the last of August through the end ...
Read More
Read More
Spring Walk
- Monday Muse - (DUE to SURGERY, I missed a post, and have also been unable to write new essays ...
Read More
Read More
Hometown Not Found
- Monday Muse - Dear One, the older I get the more I appreciate the fact that God never changes…because ...
Read More
Read More
All in a Smile?
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I carried the directions in my hand as I entered the elementary school. Earlier ...
Read More
Read More
Easter Surprise
- Monday Muse - Dear One, from eighth grade until marriage, I lived next door to my grandparents, William and ...
Read More
Read More
Radio Graffiti
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I finally did it! And my heart is beating hard. I’m trembling. My reaction ...
Read More
Read More
Death for the Living
- Monday Muse - Dear One, a couple of years ago, I attended the memorial service for my cousin Deanna ...
Read More
Read More
Always, Only – Just on Time
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I am still unable to sit to write much, but love the lesson in ...
Read More
Read More
Relief and Amazement
- Monday Muse - Dear One, sometime ago, Ron, my husband, and I were in Big Rapids with a science ...
Read More
Read More
Chuckles? Really? Today?
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I could begin this muse by saying, “I don’t believe it.” But I won’t ...
Read More
Read More
Taking Cuts
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I had already been waiting for service in Home Depot’s paint department for sometime, ...
Read More
Read More
Missed Opportunity
- Monday Muse - Dear One, a missed opportunity occurred while I was in J. C. Penney shopping for a gift ...
Read More
Read More
Reflecting the Light
- Monday Muse - New Post - Dear One, during winter in northern Michigan bright sunshine entering one’s home is ...
Read More
Read More
Be Ye Kind
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I am about to tell you something that I do in public which no ...
Read More
Read More
Of Greater Value
- Monday Muse Dear One, the hour was early when I pulled into the parking lot with time to spare ...
Read More
Read More
The Not-So-Good Samaritan
- Monday Muse - Dear One, Ron and I live a few miles west of Traverse City. To get home ...
Read More
Read More
Christmas in the Laundry Room
- Monday Muse - Dear One, here we are between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and it is here, it seems, that ...
Read More
Read More
Gift Still to Come
- Monday Muse - Dear One, as the congregation joyously sang out, “O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant ...
Read More
Read More
An Unfamiliar Path
- Monday Muse - Dear One, even though we know that life is constantly changing, we like to move through ...
Read More
Read More
Fruits and Nuts
- Monday Muse - Dear One, Ron and I were heading south through Cadillac when I mentioned picking up something ...
Read More
Read More
Wonder-Working Power
- Monday Muse - Dear One, years ago when I ran a high school program with the help of many ...
Read More
Read More
Secret Horror
- Monday Muse - Dear One, a few years ago, I opened a kitchen drawer, and to my horror found ...
Read More
Read More
Reverse Kindness
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I remember being told, by someone very wise, that whenever I was asked by ...
Read More
Read More
Without Thought
- Monday Muse - Dear One, Ron and I were outside one warm morning with a granddaughter and three little ...
Read More
Read More
Call for Compassion
- Monday Muse - Dear One, recently I had reason to recall what I said to one of our daughters ...
Read More
Read More
Is the Holy Spirit Whispering?
- Monday Muse - Dear One, well here I am, behind on absolutely everything and, newly enrolled in a twelve-week ...
Read More
Read More
Death a Change of Address
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I have heard people say that they cannot believe in God for He most ...
Read More
Read More
Sunday Sparkle
- Monday Muse - Dear One, recently on a warm afternoon, from where Ron and I were seated, the sun ...
Read More
Read More
Vacant Corners
- Monday Muse - Dear One, in 1958 I remember being thirteen years old and having moved with my family, ...
Read More
Read More
A Legitimate Complaint
- Monday Muse - Dear Ones, years ago I wrote the following as a humorous article for a senior magazine ...
Read More
Read More
Lasting Impression
- Monday Muse - Dear One, years ago, I was at a gathering with about fifteen others. We were receiving ...
Read More
Read More
Simple Things of Life
- Monday Muse - Dear One, with Ron at the wheel, and me holding onto a vase filled with twelve ...
Read More
Read More
When the Sun Don’t Shine
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I cannot ever remember such a warm, sunny, northwest-lower Michigan summer than this 2020 ...
Read More
Read More
Buyer Beware
- Monday Muse - Dear One, this essay is for whomever does the household laundry. In this house, it is ...
Read More
Read More
Kitchen Floor Lesson
- Monday Muse - Dear One, with two buckets filled with water as hot as I could stand it, I ...
Read More
Read More
Friend To Friend
- Monday Muse - Dear One, a nurse was checking me out, taking my blood pressure and that sort of ...
Read More
Read More
The Eye of the Storm
- Monday Muse - Dear One, during the current Covid Period, I was on the phone with a woman whom, ...
Read More
Read More
Man as Protector
- Monday Muse - Dear One, as I approach the doors to our Kohl’s store, a man steps up from ...
Read More
Read More
Wearing White
- Monday Muse - NEW POST - Dear One, early in May, after the weather had been miserably cold, dark, ...
Read More
Read More
Love-In-Disguise
- Monday Muse - Dear One, remember Jesus’ concern for His mother during His crucifixion? “Near the cross of Jesus ...
Read More
Read More
Broken Trust
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I was standing at the kitchen sink. The top-of-the-hour news had just come on ...
Read More
Read More
Night and Day Difference
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it was over four decades ago, when I walked into the laundry room, picked ...
Read More
Read More
Accepting the Unacceptable
- Monday Muse - Dear One, there seems to be a time in the walk of some of God’s followers ...
Read More
Read More
The Prayer Walker
- Monday Muse - Dear One, one summer day when I was a mile-and-a-half into my two-mile walk, I unintentionally ...
Read More
Read More
Strangely Familiar
- Monday Muse - Dear One, just look at those shelves. The shelves themselves are familiar, but their emptiness certainly ...
Read More
Read More
Unintentional
- Monday Muse - Dear One, some essays are more difficult to share than others, as this one happens to ...
Read More
Read More
Sweet Naivete
- Monday Muse - Dear One, just look at this smiling face. He has not a care in the world ...
Read More
Read More
A Chance Meeting
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it has been years since the day that I first met Cory (the name ...
Read More
Read More
Astonished
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it was August, 1980, my parents and an uncle and aunt came north to ...
Read More
Read More
Punitive Pedestal
- Monday Muse - Dear One, recently I was in a conversation with perhaps a half-a-dozen people, when after making ...
Read More
Read More
A Sweet Temptation
- Monday Muse - Dear One, one evening, a long time ago, while my husband Ron and I were gathered ...
Read More
Read More
No Buts About It
- Monday Muse - Dear Ladies, is the rear side of a female elephant her best feature? Even for the ...
Read More
Read More
Made in God’s Image
- Monday Muse - Dear One, this morning the scene I would like to share with you looked very much ...
Read More
Read More
Wishing It Well
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it was during food preparation for Thanksgiving that I noticed, after long hours in ...
Read More
Read More
Tricks for Remembering
- Monday Muse - Dear One, so here I am once again halfway into town, and I left behind my ...
Read More
Read More
Alone in the Dark of Night
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I was not without empathy for those I know who are widowed. At least, ...
Read More
Read More
Gray in One Day
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it was midweek and I was running around doing errands with a perky brown ...
Read More
Read More
Someone’s Watching
- Monday Muse - Dear One, after moving to Traverse City in 1966, Ron and I attended three different churches ...
Read More
Read More
World Wide Wave
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it was Sunday, we were in church, singing, during the worship part of the ...
Read More
Read More
Undying Embers
- Monday Muse - Dear One, did you wake-up today with a faint thought of doing some kind gesture for ...
Read More
Read More
Edge of Darkness
- Monday Muse - Dear One, it is on a surprisingly warm November evening in 2009, when I begin my ...
Read More
Read More
Purposeful Grand-Parenting
- Monday Muse - Dear One, when Ron and I moved to Traverse City, the first thing I did was ...
Read More
Read More
Signs of the Times
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I actually can remember life before advertising? Certainly, the time I am referring to ...
Read More
Read More
Last Cuttings
- Monday Muse - Dear One, in mid-October, Ron and I were preparing to host small group at our home ...
Read More
Read More
Golden Opportunities
- Monday Muse - Dear One, this October, Fall’s display of glorious color seemed to arrive almost all at once…on ...
Read More
Read More
Found Willing
- Monday Muse - Dear One, numerous times, at the last minute, I have been plucked from a guest table ...
Read More
Read More
Era of Extremes
- Monday Muse - Dear one, over the phone my friend said, “Good bye, love ya.” I said the same ...
Read More
Read More
Invitation Declined
- Monday Muse - Dear One, our small group does not manage to get together much during the summer. During ...
Read More
Read More
Time, a Wise Investment
- Monday Muse - Dear One, the scene which plays out in the following paragraphs, took place when the granddaughter ...
Read More
Read More
Shepherd and the Cow Gate
- Monday Muse - Dear One, this story as written in 2004 was told to me by my husband, Ron ...
Read More
Read More
Captivating
- Monday Muse - Dear One, on the Woodsy Patio, at the edge of the woods, we have a broken-down, ...
Read More
Read More
Sunny Sunday Mornings
- Monday Muse - Dear One, since 1979, when Ron and I moved just west of Traverse City, we have ...
Read More
Read More
A Driving Question
- Monday Muse - Dear One, while sitting with other fans at a high school baseball tournament, I was asked ...
Read More
Read More
A Father’s Sacrifice
- Monday Muse - Dear One, with Ash Wednesday behind us, and Easter coming up on April 21st, there has ...
Read More
Read More
Cell Phone Alert
- Monday Muse - Dear One, during the recent cold spell, while snuggled in bed, in an unheated room, we ...
Read More
Read More
Tradition Transition
- Monday Muse - Dear One, this was to be last week’s Monday Muse, but with my husband in the ...
Read More
Read More
Better Together
- Monday Muse - Dear One, when I left for a walk, it was nearing nightfall, and the temperature was ...
Read More
Read More
Have A Nice Day!
- Monday Muse - Dear One, recently as I was leaving Meijer, a large, one-stop mega-store, the greeter said, what ...
Read More
Read More
Too Tired to Breathe
- Monday Muse - Dear One, for nearly 40 years now, there will be a morning every now and then, ...
Read More
Read More
You Are the One
- Monday Muse - Dear One, recently I was talking to a gentleman who wondered who in our church might ...
Read More
Read More
Act Like a Lady
- Monday Muse - Dear One, while working around the house doing those tasks which do not strain-the-brain, I like ...
Read More
Read More
Mission: IMPOSSIBLE
- Monday Muse - Dear One, over a week ago, we rented a twelve-passenger van, and attended a Tiger baseball ...
Read More
Read More
Like a Wild Flower
- Monday Muse - Dear One, as I neared our driveway after a two-mile, irregular walk, which was meant to ...
Read More
Read More
A Fork in the Road
- Monday Muse - Dear One, when I mentioned to a friend that I had parked in a handicap parking ...
Read More
Read More
Love Him Too
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I was seated in a restaurant one morning with a friend. Near us was ...
Read More
Read More
Rejecting the Faith
- Monday Muse - Dear One, when I was young and living in McBain in the home of my parents, ...
Read More
Read More
Touch has a Memory
- Monday Muse - Dear One, sometime ago I was watching a story on the life of John Keats, an ...
Read More
Read More
Splendor of His Majesty
- Monday Muse - Dear One, before church service one Sunday morning in the narthex, between the fellowship hall and ...
Read More
Read More
Pressure Cooker Mama
- Monday Muse - Dear One, while in Sam’s Club, with my cart nearly full, my heart was pierced by ...
Read More
Read More
Light of Life
- Monday Muse - Dear One, there we stood, the two of us, outside the entrance to the high school’s ...
Read More
Read More
White Noise
- Monday Muse - Dear One, I was baby-sitting for the day, and when I was given napping instructions, I ...
Read More
Read More
Spit-Shined
- Monday Muse - Dear One, get a look at that pinafore! What makes the huge ruffles stand up like ...
Read More
Read More
Today’s The Way
- Monday Muse - Dear One, last week I wrote of worry. After giving that a lot of thought, something ...
Read More
Read More
Faith Grows
- Monday Muse - Dear One, after service, in the narthex, as Ron and I were putting on our coats, ...
Read More
Read More
Flip-Flops
- Monday Muse - Dear One, Can the wearing of flip-flops be contributing to the reduction of our children’s physical ...
Read More
Read More
