We just had our weekly editorial meeting, where editors pitch stories they’ve heard about by word of mouth or found by reading hard-copy and online submissions. Most of the stories in our publications come from you, so we love a full mailbox (both kinds). A big part of our jobs is reading, reading, reading those manuscripts you so generously send in.

I hope I’m not jumping the gun and giving out behind-the-scenes Guideposts scoop before I’m supposed to. But what’s a blog for...

Today’s guest-blogger is Angels on Earth editorial assistant Kelly P. Gallagher.

Museums and historical landmarks are always fun, but this past weekend I was in the mood for an offbeat adventure. So a college friend, Allison, and I drove into the Catskill Mountains to check out the world’s largest kaleidoscope.

I know, I know... that might seem a little strange! But the idea of seeing the world’s largest anything was appealing. Allison and I headed westward from her hometown of Kingston, New York, and entered the sleepy mountains.

I was dusting off my office shelves yesterday afternoon, something I don’t do very often because a) I hate to dust and b) I wind up reading around in the books as if it was a holiday.

Suddenly it was late afternoon and my bookshelves remained dusty, but I’d re-familiarized myself with my library and the voices of people like Catherine and Peter Marshall, Arthur Gordon, Van Varner and of course, Norman Vincent Peale. Guideposts’ guardian angels, if you will.

I was answering emails about 3 p.m. on Monday when a New York Times breaking news alert showed up at the bottom of my screen. I clicked on it. Explosions at the Boston Marathon. My sister Shannon was running the race.

“U ok?” I texted. And waited. It was only a few minutes, but I’d packed in a lot of prayers.

Ragena Simper and her husband, George, were driving near Utah’s Soldier Summit on U.S. 6 last week when they lost control of their SUV. “The choices were either overcorrect and roll, or go off a 200-foot cliff,” George told the Salt Lake City Deseret News.

Today’s guest-blogger is Angels on Earth editorial assistant Kelly P. Gallagher.

My parents’ cat, Murphy, isn’t exactly a model pet—at least not in my eyes. He chases his tail, makes loud noises at night and tries to steal food off the table. 

How could this wonderful poem by former Poet Laureate Billy Collins have escaped me until now? I hope you will be amused, as I was, by “Questions About Angels.”

The angel the poet summons up in the end will dance in my mind’s eye for the rest of the day! What an illustration it would make for our magazine!

This afternoon the editors are getting together to plan the August issue of Guideposts. Tomorrow we’ll discuss which stories will fit best in the July/August issue of Angels. In the magazine business, scheduling ahead is the rule. Besides, we want to get a jump on things so we clear even more time this summer to devote to our fifth edition of the full-size special interest publication The Joys of Christmas.

Copies of Rick Hamlin’s new book, 10 Prayers You Can’t Live Without, arrived in the office yesterday, and I couldn’t get my hands on one fast enough.

I’d read most of it in manuscript form as Rick was putting it together, but for me there’s nothing better than reading the real printed and bound copy of a finished book. “Congratulations, Rick,” I said, admiring the cover. “I’ll start it on my train ride home tonight.”