Table of contents for October 2018 in Guideposts

I’ve said it before: Fall is the best. Here are a few of my favorite things. PERFECT HIKING Gracie, my three-year-old golden, will implore me (you know that look they give you) to hike in any weather in any season. But there is nothing more exhilarating than hitting the trails in the apple-crisp autumn air, to say nothing of the brilliant turning leaves. And the company of a great dog. SPORTS The World Series. The Maize and Blue. Enough said. FOOD The flavors of fall—cider, ginger, pumpkin, cinnamon, squash, pears, radishes. Roasts, soups and stews. Something about the fall air charges up the appetite. OCTOBER The perfect month. Seriously. HARVEST MOON Is there a bigger, brighter full moon all year? Ask any farmer. THE DYING LIGHT Not grim but simply…

Sunday morning. The warm July breeze drifted in through the second-story windows of the farmhouse I shared with my husband, Eugene, and his parents, who lived on the first floor. I was the organist at our little country parish. Eugene and his father were finishing up their barn chores, the last of which was milking our cows. I got dressed for church. If Eugene wasn’t back soon, I’d get a ride to church with his mom, so I could warm up before the 10:30 a.m. service. His father had bad arthritis and would have to lie down after chores. His mom might appreciate company on the drive. Just as I finished getting ready, Eugene burst through the door. “I finished milking the cows, but then I saw that one of…

I TOOK IN THE BUSTLING LOBBY, crossing off items on my color-coded, cross-referenced checklist. Short line at the registration table. Check. Name tags in alphabetical order for easy retrieval. Check. Colleagues in position to answer questions. Check. My boss walked up to me. “Things are running abnormally smoothly,” she said. “Why aren’t we more stressed?” “Everything’s going according to plan,” I said. I showed her the checklist. I’d been planning this biannual, three-day conference for mental health clinicians for months. I’d worked out every detail of the training and expected to execute the event flawlessly. “Wow. When you’re a boss, it’s always good to have a control freak on your team,” she said. “You never have to worry about anything!” She laughed and patted me on the back. I laughed…

THE SUN BEAT DOWN AND THE temperature was above 90 degrees when my husband, Alan, and I arrived at the farm late in the afternoon—and it was only May. A severe drought gripped our part of Oklahoma. Ponds were dried up, and the grass was brown. We had to truck in hay to feed the cattle. Alan and I ran this 320-acre farm, but we didn’t live here. My parents had bought the land when they retired in the late 1970s. They raised wheat, oats, alfalfa, cattle and a small herd of Sicilian donkeys. The donkeys were miniature size, with distinctive cross-shaped markings on their backs. They served as excellent guard animals for the cattle. Donkeys are alert and protective. They’re cute—but watch out when they kick! A few months…

FOR YEARS MY HUSBAND, LEE, drove an old, beat-up ’76 box van that he used for his electrical and refrigeration work. When his employer supplied him a new company truck, the tan van became part of our family. There were two seats in front, and we put an ice chest between them for a third. The interior was raw metal with wooden slats on the floor in back. No AC—only a heater. But the van always started. The back door creaked when you opened it, and there was rust on the side door panels. But it had a working cassette player and got us from point A to point B. When our daughter, Bethany, got her driver’s license, she hoped for some cool wheels like her friends drove. We bequeathed…

MISSION POSSIBLE My mother and I have been Guideposts subscribers for years. We’ve always appreciated the inspirational stories, but I’ve never felt so called to action as I did after reading about Little Free Pantries in Someone Cares in December 2016. I asked my church if we could build one for our community. The answer? Yes. We scoured antique stores for the perfect cupboard and fixed it up. The Rochester Mills Presbyterian Church Little Free Pantry opened July 7, 2017. We sent postcards to 400 homes, asking for donations from those who could help and inviting those in need of basic supplies to visit. We stocked the pantry with cereal, pasta, desserts and canned goods. In winter, we put in gloves, hats and scarves. Some of the folks visiting the…

Inspiration On the Air In her nationally syndicated program, Delilah (page 26) has been supporting her callers for more than 20 years. Watch as the most listened-to woman on American radio shares how she and her listeners inspire each other with their stories of hope and faith. guideposts.org/delilah Breast Cancer Awareness Month Experts in cancer prevention and treatment explain the latest research and reveal what you need to know about breast cancer. guideposts.org/breastcancer Celebrating Autumn We’ve gathered a collection of inspiring quotes that celebrate the many joys of the season—from the crisp evening air to the glorious colors of fall. guideposts.org/fallquotes Keep Your GUIDEPOSTS Coming We make it easy to renew your magazine, check on the status of your subscription, manage book series shipments or view your donation history. guideposts.org/ecares…

How do you protect kids from the harmful effects of alcohol and other drugs? That question led Dr. Thomas Andrew to pursue a second career as a chaplain working with youth. It’s also on the mind of every parent whose kids near the end of elementary school. While there’s no simple answer, parents shouldn’t assume that “teens will be teens.” Parents are the most important influence on a young person’s life, and there are plenty of ways to help kids navigate the challenges of adolescence, make good choices and grow from adversity. Start young, at home and with yourself. Risk factors for addiction emerge early. They might include a family history of addiction to alcohol or other drugs, attention or behavioral problems at school, anxiety and a lack of control…

A RACE OF GRACE Running a half marathon was at the top of my bucket list. But standing at the starting line, I wondered if I was crazy. Could I really do 13.1 miles? Without running out of energy? Without my legs aching or cramping up? Without getting over-heated? Just thinking about it all, I could feel my body tense up. I peeked down at the reverse of the bib on my chest. Behind my racing number, I’d written a list of 13 names. One name for each mile. It was my friend Kim’s idea. Kim was a veteran runner who’d encouraged me to run the race. She’d helped me stick to my training plan. When I confided my second thoughts to her, she shared a secret with me. “Whenever…

“I believe that if we relax and let go enough, extraordinary things begin to happen. I suppose you’d call it spiritual surrender.”actor SIR ANTHONY HOPKINS, who has been in sobriety since 1975 “You may not be able to take care of a person’s business need, but you can always meet their human need for someone to care.”BARBARA GLANZ, motivational speaker “Deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex.”a favorite maxim of FRED ROGERS, aka Mr. Rogers of children’s TV fame “Whether a person believes in God or not, if someone is achieving extraordinary things, then I believe God is in that process.”VERY REV. JOHN R. HALL, the Dean of Westminster Abbey “One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”PAULO COELHO, writer “Man…

THE HEARTS ARE SMALL AND simple. Red or white cotton, embroidered with flowers and stars. For years, the Salvation Army used them to teach at-risk women in Bangladesh how to sew. Making the embroidered hearts was good training for more difficult craftwork. In countries like Bangladesh, women with few marketable skills often become victims of human trafficking or sometimes turn to prostitution as a way to survive and feed their children. That’s why the Salvation Army established the Others program in 1997, to train women to be artists and crafts-people, making textiles and jewelry. The Salvation Army markets the women’s products, and the profits go back into creating more jobs, more hope. Hundreds of women had been helped through Others by 2017. But no one gave much thought to the…

“CINDY, I’M NOT INTERESTED,” I said, trying not to sound too irritated at my agent. “I’m not auditioning for some dumb comic-book movie.” “Ms. Dorothy,” she said. “I wish you’d at least think about it. It’s going to be really big.” “Nope, not doing it,” I said. “Besides, I don’t have the faintest idea how to do an African accent.” I hung up, anxious to return to my baking. My grandson, Niles, was coming over, and I was making sweet potato pie, his favorite. Ten years ago, if someone had told me that at age 90 I’d be arguing with an agent about a movie role, I would have thought they were flat-out crazy. Me playing a tribal elder in some make-believe African country called Wakanda? Who’d ever heard of…

Rita Ecdao-Lubey believes surviving a stroke changed her life for the better. Merry Jo Escher, a purchasing consultant for the Good Samaritan Society, can relate to that. She suffered a stroke at age 48—a total shock since she didn’t have the most common risk factors, such as high blood pressure, a history of smoking and obesity. We talked to Escher about what she learned. How did you know you were having a stroke? “I didn’t. Even though I was a volunteer first responder, I missed all the signs,” Escher says. “That morning I woke up feeling funny—I kept seeing rings in my field of vision. I worked in sales then and managed to drive to meet a regular customer. Verda, my customer’s receptionist, noticed my voice didn’t project and my…