Luann Tennant Coyne

Category: Meditations

A Lesson from my Trees in Early November

My recent cataract surgeries have improved my sight so much that everything looks more detailed, more colorful and brighter than I have seen in decades.
I am thrilled with the carnival of color on the trees in our back yard: orange, red, gold, bronze and fading green, all bouncing vigorously in the breeze. I marvel at the bright glory of serrated-edged golden river birch leaves against an intense blue sky.

Replete with Very Thee

Looking back, I see how Aunt Barbara accepted the constant physical suffering she went through in her later years… and, instead of choosing self-pity and dwelling on her losses, found room inside herself for God to fill with kindness, caring for others, and love.

Respite

Whenever I come to the mountains, I feel at home in a way I can’t explain. Like I’ve come back home after being away. I breathe deeply and I say, “Yes. I’m home again.” And my age and my minor ailments fall away. Peace and happiness are here, for the taking.

Robotic Arms and a Band Aid

One of the benefits of being a chauffeur for your children is that somehow the minute the car starts, you become invisible. Conversations go on in the back seat that you would never have been privy to under other circumstances. I

A Little Bit of Magic

A little bit of magic goes a long way to relieve the long hours and hard work of being a working parent.
Once in a while, when my girls were young, I would stop the car at a park on the way to the sitter’s house in the morning, and we would spend twenty minutes on the slides and swings. We would have the park to ourselves, first thing on a weekday morning. And I got a little extra play time with my girls… The best present in the world for me.

You Just Get Through It

Once I asked my mother what it was like to live through really hard times, like Pearl Harbor and WWII. Mom was a young woman in nursing school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Mom told me that they gathered around, listening to radios… She said it was hard to believe it had happened, that it didn’t seem real.

Hope and a Barefoot Farm Girl

How did my mother, who grew up so poor, develop such a strong sense of her own self-worth, such a sturdy self-reliance, and such a strong hope and belief that life had wondrous experiences for her?

Waiting . . .

Waiting has its gifts. Waiting has taught me patience. Humility. Waiting has knocked the top layer off my ever-present and arrogant assumption that I know what’s best for myself and for everyone else in the world. Best of all, waiting has brought me closer to an always loving, always compassionate God.

Seeing at Christmas

This year, I pray, may I focus on the goodness and kindness I see every day in my life, no matter how small.

My Year of Keeping it Simple

As more and more life events kept piling on top of me. I realized that I needed to make “keep it simple” not a nice thing to think about but a lifestyle change.