The Desert Palms Presbyterian Church

09/04/2026

08/31/2026

Meditation Monday with Nurse Noelle:

The Man in the Parking Lot

Every morning, an older man parked in the same spot outside his favorite coffee shop. One morning, as he got out of his car, he looked up and noticed a tiny bird sitting on the roof of a nearby car.

He stood there watching it.

A woman walking past asked, “Everything okay?”

He grinned. “Oh, absolutely. Look at that little guy. He has no idea how good he looks.”

She laughed. The man laughed. And for the next few seconds, two complete strangers stood in a parking lot admiring a bird.

Nothing important had happened.

And yet, something wonderful had.

Jesus said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” — John 15:11

Perhaps joy is sometimes as simple as being willing to notice what is delightful—and not being too busy to enjoy it.

There is a lot of beauty in an ordinary day. Keep your eyes open.

08/25/2026

Join us tomorrow!

08/24/2026

Meditation Monday with Nurse Noelle:

What We Leave Unfinished

My mother died a week ago.

After the difficulty of the last several years, her death has left me thinking about all the things that can remain unfinished between two people. Words that were never said. Questions that were never answered. Hurt that was never resolved. And perhaps most difficult of all, the realization that there will never be another opportunity to change any of it.

Death has a way of making us face what we cannot go back and fix.

I have wondered what God asks of us when a relationship ends this way. Perhaps not to understand it all. Perhaps not even to find some neat explanation for why things happened as they did.

Maybe sometimes faith is simply being willing to place the unfinished parts in God's hands.

Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.” I have read that verse many times, but lately I have thought about the word near. God does not promise us that every relationship will be restored or that every wound will have an explanation. He promises His presence in the places where we hurt.

There are things about my relationship with my mother that I will never be able to change. But I don't have to spend the rest of my life trying to solve what cannot be solved.

I can remember what was good. I can acknowledge what was painful. I can grieve what I lost, and what I wished I had. And I can trust God with everything that remains unfinished.

Perhaps that is part of faith: not having every story come to the ending we hoped for, but believing that God is still present when the story ends before we are ready.

“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.” Psalm 34:18

Meditation:
What is unfinished in your life that you may be trying to resolve on your own? What would it mean to place it, honestly and without pretending, into God's hands?

08/22/2026

The deadline to sign up for this luncheon is Tuesday at noon!