Indice dei contenuti per March 2016 in Guideposts

Happy St. Patrick’s Day How well do you know the man behind the holiday? Discover eight things about Saint Patrick and why he is celebrated, at guideposts.org/stpat. Serving Honor and Need In our cover story (page 22), Gary Sinise talks about the need to support our troops, our veterans and their families. Gary has used his success as an actor to get his message out. For a slide show of Gary’s most memorable roles, visit guideposts.org/gsinise. Here Comes the Sun Sunday, March 20, marks the first day of spring. Get in the spirit with this collection of our favorite spring quotes for you! guideposts.org/springquotes Prayer Tips for Lent With Easter drawing near, Executive Editor Rick Hamlin shares prayer tips that will enrich your Lenten journey. guideposts.org/lentenprayers…

At least the Walmart felt familiar. Nothing else around Sonoma County, California, did. I walked through the store aisles with my husband, Doug, looking up from my shopping list every so often halfhoping to see someone I knew. But all our friends and family were far away. I sighed and shoved the list into Doug’s hands. “You get what we need,” I said. “I’m going to look for a book.” I wanted something comforting, inspirational, like the novels written by my favorite author, Francine Rivers. I missed our church library back in Santa Cruz, where I had been in charge of ordering the latest best-sellers. Doug and I had put our home of 28 years on the market less than three months before, thinking we had plenty of time to…

HOW DOES GUIDEPOSTS make an impact in the world? Through you. We think of all of you as partners in a global mission, helping us spread hope and inspiration. In all the years I’ve worked here there’s never been a time that we’ve had more opportunities to reach people. We’ve got more products than ever—five magazines, two annual devotionals, fiction series, other books, booklets, and newsletters on subjects like the Bible and prayer. And that doesn’t even account for the editions we do in large print. But the biggest opportunity comes through digital media. We can build new relationships and community with the click of a mouse. People who have never heard of us can find us when they search for stories about hope, faith, prayer and inspiration. They can…

“ MAYBE YOU SHOULD SEE someone, Dorothy.” I knew what those words meant, and I knew my friend Debbie meant well. I also knew who “someone” was—a therapist. And going to a therapist—no way was I doing that. Therapy was just another word for failure, spiritual failure. As if my relationship with God wasn’t strong enough. I didn’t want to be judged. And yet I knew there was something wrong with me, something terribly wrong. Eight years earlier I had left a marriage marked by physical and emotional abuse made worse by the fact that my husband was a public figure, a star player for the Super Bowl champion Dallas Cowboys. A man who to many could do no wrong. Like millions of women in this country trapped in toxic…

TO THE RESCUE Here in California, we get lizards in our gardens. I don’t know about you, but I love lizards. Not only do they eat the bugs that damage my plants, but they’re fun to watch. Sometimes I just see them scurry away when I get too close. Other times I catch one clinging to the side of the house like Spider-Man defying gravity. My cat, Missie, likes to hunt them. If I’m fast I can rescue them before she pounces. One morning as I was doing the dishes I caught sight of a gray tail hanging out of her mouth. I rushed over. This lizard was bigger than any I’d ever seen. I didn’t know how old it must have been to have gotten so large. “No, Missie!”…

A few years ago I went on a Guideposts-sponsored trip to the Holy Land. We toured historic Christian sites like Ephesus, the ruins of the marketplace where Paul preached in Corinth, and the site where Jesus performed his first public miracle, at Cana. For me the highlight of the trip—besides the Guideposts readers I had the great pleasure of traveling with—was walking the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem, the ancient cobbled street down which Jesus struggled so painfully with the cross he was to be crucified on, made to carry it nearly half a mile from the Praetorium to Calvary. The name Via Dolorosa means “Way of Sorrows.” Along that route are the 14 Stations of the Cross. Medallions on the street mark the moments of Christ’s…

IN 2003, I MADE MY FIRST USO TRIP to Iraq, never dreaming that 13 years later we’d still have a military presence there and in Afghanistan. The war on terror has proven to be the longest armed conflict in our nation’s history, yet the dangerous work done by our service members can easily be forgotten as they, as well as our veterans and the families who stand by them, fall out of the 24-hour news cycle. Still, thousands of Gold Star families, whose loved ones died in action, are struggling with their grief, while Blue Star families, those with activeduty members, cope with the stress of deployment and the aftermath of battle. Service members and veterans are facing serious mental-health challenges. If you’ve seen your buddies killed or injured, you’re…

Are you part of the sandwich generation, like Laura Yeager? A 2013 Pew Research Center survey found that nearly half of Americans in their forties and fifties have a parent age 65 or older and are either raising a child under 18 or supporting a grown child. They face particular challenges in caregiving and providing financial and emotional support. They often feel caught between the needs of their aging parents and the needs of their children. How do you bring your multigenerational family closer? Home Instead Senior Care worked with Matthew Kaplan, Ph.D., of Penn State, an expert on intergenerational programs, to develop these tips: • Treat this as a family partnership. Everyone needs to be informed and to give input into the arrangements. No one person should be responsible…

‘‘This is who I am. I’m not perfect. I don’t want to try to be perfect.” MICHAEL STRAHAN, explaining why he won’t fix the gap between his two front teeth “Gratitude helps us to see what is there instead of what isn’t.” sign seen on Madison Avenue Baptist Church “We scientists have found that doing a kindness produces the single most reliable momentary increase in wellbeing of any exercise we have tested.” MARTIN SELIGMAN, from Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being “You can’t really compare people. That’s one of the biggest things I’ve learned, because comparing yourself to someone else really stops you from becoming who you are.” singer ALICIA KEYS “Put your dreams on hold too long and they’ll hang up on you.” submitted by MELISSA…

“THE ANTIDOTE ISN’T WORKING,” I said, lifting the giant Andean condor’s wing. The bird was listless and drooling profusely, her eyes glazed and blinking slowly. I had never seen Lianni this sick before. Condors are strong—even when they don’t feel well—and it took a team of bird keepers to hold Lianni on the ground. My colleague and head vet tech, Teri Roesch, and I began the exam. Birds are my specialty. As director of veterinary medicine of the National Aviary in Pittsburgh, it’s not only my job but my privilege to care for birds young and old, common and endangered. We have more than 500 birds of 150 different species. Some are critically endangered, part of carefully managed breeding programs: African penguins, rhinoceros hornbills, Guam rails. I’ve cared for many…

Just as physical stress can scramble your thinking, overtaxing yourself mentally and spiritually can harm your body. Here are five ways to maintain your well-being: • Breathe. Did you know your breathing directly affects your blood pressure? Try breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth, slowly and deeply for six breaths. It works. • Get moving. Endorphins are nature’s stress busters. Exercise releases these chemicals that help you relax and sleep better. • Change the way you handle conflict. Focus on the positive and be open to compromise. Give respect and you’ll get respect. • Take a break. Too busy? That’s when you need a break most. Do something relaxing for at least 15 minutes a day. Read, take a walk, play a game, nap. • Pray.…

BLANKET STATEMENT Three years ago I read the 2001 Pass It On story Security Blankets in my daughter’s Guideposts. It was about a charity called Project Linus that provides blankets to critically ill and needy children. I don’t know how to crochet, knit or sew, and was happy to see a pattern for fleece blankets I could make by simply cutting and tying. I got started right away. When my husband died, it became a way to fill my days. I was all set to send my blankets off to Project Linus when my diocese requested donations for refugee families. Blankets seemed like a great way to welcome these families to the community. I’ve made 210 blankets over the past three years. My goal for this year is 100. I’m…