Renee Hawkley In Joy!

January 20, 2021 I want to record a few thoughts before today's inauguration of Joe Biden as President of the United States. What is about to occur is a stunning blow to ". . . liberty and justice for all." Already, the concept of gender has been neutered in Congress by the removal of gender-related terms such as "mother, father, aunt and uncle." Already, freedom of speech that disturbs the desired narratives of "big tech" is censored and eliminated on their platforms and at their whim. Already, eugenics controls abortion, disposing of hundreds of thousands of "unsuitable and unwanted" human beings per year with taxpayer money and without a microbe of remorse. Already, socialism sympathizers, including many politicians who claim to honor the Constitution, have run for cover, scampering back into the loving arms of their wealth-driven donors and spineless constituents who may sit for civility, but stand for compliance to socialist agendas. Alr...

Sometimes I've wondered which comes first for me, faith in God or my country?   America was founded under a banner of religious freedom.  "My people" were searching for religious freedom and found it in America.   Without America, the story of "my people" and their faith in God would be very different.  I will be ever grateful for "my people," their story and the country I love.

The Missing Puzzle Piece by Renee Hawkley My 2020 Christmas gift to myself was a 1,000-piece puzzle of a winter village scene. I was a bit discouraged last night when the puzzle was nearly finished, and a single border piece was still missing. I mean, it’s just not Right to have one missing piece in a beautiful Thomas Kinkade work of art! Fast forward to this afternoon as I glanced at the puzzle table after returning home from the YMCA. There was the missing piece in plain sight near the edge of the table! I didn’t need to guess who had found it. My dear friend, Janice, who cleans my cozy abode once-a-month, had noticed a bitty part of it “blending in” with one of the tiles near the fireplace! I joyfully told her about the 999-piece puzzle that was “alone” without the single straight-edge piece that just happened to depict a cross at the tip of a church steeple in the village scene! It’s interesting how one little “tender mercy” can remind two of Christ’s followers that Jesus can compl...