A Special Lamp (10/21/2026)

At my desk where I write, there is a special lamp that illuminates my space. It’s a creation by my grandson using his welding skills and materials he had on hand. He will never completely understand how it inspires me, but it does. When I get bogged down in my own insecurities or feel stuck without any ideas, I look at that lamp, and it inspires me to do deeper and try harder. That lamp is a symbol of my grandson’s cooperation with the LORD’s graces and gifts and the personal grit that allowed him to use what he had to create something new.  

There’s a second reason that lamp inspires me. I am the one who gave my grandson his first experience with welding while on a trip to Door County and a creative expression workshop. I arranged for him to have a day with a master welder instead of doing pottery and ceramics with the rest of the family. That day, my grandson went from not knowing a thing about welding to producing a completed figurine that went on to win a prize in a local art fair. And that day my grandson found his way to express himself creatively. Today he is a master welder and fabricator.

The lamp that graces my desk reminds me to use what the LORD has already given me to make a difference but also that we are called to accompany others on the journey and to help them in their discoveries. The world is a brighter place when we can do both.

This blog is a blending of both, using my own experiences to create a message daily but also doing so as a way of accompanying others along the same way that I am journeying. Hopefully, through the power of the Spirit, these words and experiences will serve to light another’s way or lighten another’s load. At the heart of any difference, though, is not me but what the LORD is able to do with me, through me, in me if I allow it.

One of my favorite Amy Grant songs is “All I Ever Have to Be.” There is a verse that especially resonates:

All I ever have to be is what You’ve made me.

Any more or less would be a step out of Your plan.

As you daily recreate me help me always keep in mind

That I only have to do what I can find

And all I ever have to be is what You’ve made in me.

As we journey in faith, hope and love, let us keep in mind that the LORD has blessed us abundantly. Let us commit to engaging those blessings, graces, and gifts and using them to make a difference. Let us also persist in finding ways to accompany others on the way, supporting them as they, too, find their footing, identify their blessings, graces, and gifts, and realize their participation in the LORD’s divine design.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.