Today would be my mom’s 111th birthday. She has been gone for 22 years but I feel as though she was alive with me only yesterday. Her spirit and life inspired each of us kids to live above any problems looking to Jesus where all answers will be found and peace could be also found. Today I asked Jesus to tell her hi for me and as I was going to ask that He hug her. Then I remembered where she is–right with Him! I smiled and thought–this is already happening.

People have always talked about the Psalms being such wonderful scriptures to read. Personally, I’ve always struggled with them. Today I awoke to a major reason why. When one reads them they vacillate from joy to heartache almost by the chapter. My upbringing was so filled with dad’s emotional swings that I hated emotions. I did my best to never let my emotions get out of control. The Psalms are written with such emotional expression that I have read them more out of discipline than out of desire.

As I’ve begun to read them now I see a very different picture. God created us as emotional beings. I readily see my own emotions now. It is our emotions which we often use to express our love and thanks to God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit. It is also our emotions we use to express our love to one another. Our passions are defined in emotional terms These are all great uses of emotions. I’ve had such a narrow picture of emotions very skewed by my past. Today I’m reading Psalms with a mind much more open. I’m looking forward to my new learning from them.