Luann Tennant Coyne

Category: Meditations

“Courage is Fear that Has Said its Prayers”

When I went back to work after my second daughter was born, I had a constant fear like an ache in my stomach.

Shannon was six months old and Liz was two and a half. I had to get them out of bed in the morning, dress and feed them, and take them to the sitter’s house. After I finished work for the day, I would bring them home, cook supper, and feed them. My husband was a terrific partner and parent when he was home, but he had a long commute into Chicago from the suburbs, and he worked late and traveled often.

I was terribly afraid, afraid that I wouldn’t have the stamina to work fulltime while caring for very two young children. Plenty of times, I was so tired when I got to work in the morning that the day ahead seemed overwhelming.

Recycling Christmas…

I have a confession to make: I have a bundle of Christmas cards that I received in 2013, some of them never opened. They sit in a yellow file folder in the cupboard over my kitchen desk. Throwing papers into a cupboard and shutting the door was a habit I developed in those years when I was working full time, had two active children, and did a lot of single parenting when my husband traveled for work.

Mother’s Blue Bowl (Follow the Wind)

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We all have them.

Memories tied up in wood, or glass. Physical artifacts containing invisible family stories of the people whose blood pulses through our veins. Stories that tie us to the past, but also give us vision and courage for the here and now. 

Such an item is my mother’s blue glass bowl.

On the Enduring Power of Gratitude

I’ve passed on to Hanah’s Mama, my daughter Elizabeth, some baby clothes that Elizabeth wore, and family heirlooms such as the dress she was christened in. But the most memorable and perhaps most helpful thing I’ve ever given to Elizabeth is a file folder label with a handwritten note on it…

Each Little Light

As I wind the strands of shining multicolored Christmas lights through the branches of my tree, the thought comes into my mind that there is perhaps another galaxy of brightly colored little lights, lights that only God can see…