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Only the Best
Tonight as I was feeding my littlest miss and cutting up her broccoli, I paused to consider what I was doing. I think most probably prefer the broccoli flower over the stem, though for me it goes beyond preference. I love broccoli, but I don’t want to eat broccoli stems and it’s crazy annoying to open a bag of broccoli only to see that half the bag is stems. I willingly pay more to avoid this disappointment. Yet, as I was cutting up broccoli for the miss, I was giving her all the flower and eating the stems myself. It’s what I always do. Sure it’s a trivial act of…
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Dating with Purpose (part 2)
In part one we opened the discussion on dating with a tip to allow God to bring resolution and healing before actively seeking a relationship. It may seem straightforward enough, but in our humanity we often want to rush through this crucial step, though it may set the stage for everything else in a relationship. The more emotionally healthy we are when we are out meeting people, the less likely we are to be drawn into unhealthy situations. There is no express formula for overcoming the pain of our past. God provides perfectly, individualized care when we choose to step into a life of obedience, and he’s always patient enough…
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Dating with Purpose (part 1)
If you know me, when you see this title you might be thinking, what’s she have to say on dating? She hasn’t been on a date in years. I can hear the statement drawn out in Fran Drescher’s, New York accent, which makes it sound far more tragic than it should. In defense of my delicate ego, it’s only been a few years, not decades. Though none of that means anything to God. When he gives us truth to apply in this life, we can depend on its value, whether we’re cashing in on it today, ten years from today, or just sharing it along the way. The fact that…
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The Cost of a Life Lived in Indulgence
In recent weeks I’ve been reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s, Little House in the Big Woods with my five year old. Despite the hardships of living off the grid, before there even was a grid, Laura and her family felt content and secure in their snug little cabin with their dog, Jack, standing guard and Pa’s loaded gun over the door. When she tells of her aunt and uncle along with her cousins coming to stay with them for Christmas, there’s no hint of the frustrations endured by the Griswolds in Christmas Vacation, yet they all shared one modest space with no indoor plumbing. On Christmas morning when the children woke…
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Cheerfully Single?
It’s been several years since my last relationship ended and I mourned the death of yet another dream. Sure I cared for him, but the truth is I was grieving the loss of more than just a man. Much of my feeling for him was entangled with grand expectations of what I believed we could be. I wanted love, craved acceptance and hoped to be validated through his desire to commit to me, but after two and half years he chose to leave instead. I was devastated, not just because I got dumped, although that definitely had some punch, but rather because I finally saw I was the problem. I’m…
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Are you Living Like You’re in the Army?
There used to be an ad for the Army that suggested enlisted individuals do more before nine a.m. than most people do all day, with the tagline “Be all that you can be”. I suppose the ad was intended to inspire, but it just made me feel guilty, like I really needed to step up my game if I didn’t want to be like all those other slovenly Americans. It probably sounds a bit ridiculous, but the truth is I’ve always carried this oppressive feeling I had to prove myself, driving me to become this perfectionistic, over-achiever that rarely rested. In my mind, I was singing Ethel Mermen, “Anything you…
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The Spirit of Discouragement
It never ceases to surprise me how quickly I can shift from fully confident and at peace in a situation, to suddenly being buried alive in a plague of misgivings, sometimes in a matter of just moments. Most of us have probably been there, humming down the highway, making good time and carelessly pondering life and all of its quirky nuances with little concern over what lies ahead. The sun is sunny, the sky is radiant blue, and the birds all seem to chirp in unison as they flutter about. Then suddenly it happens. Yes “it” and we’re not talking horror flicks here, though “it” can be a little horrific…
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Three Things God Taught me Through Mowing the Grass
It’s officially summer and even more certain than summer sun, is the confidence we can have that the grass will grow and someone will have to cut it. Until just a few years ago that someone had never been me. It wasn’t until I bought my own home, that I purchased a flashy orange mower and set out on my first grass mowing experience. Those early workouts behind that roaring beast were intimidating, yet exciting. I felt tough and accomplished as I trimmed the steep embankments of my small section of Appalachia. Even in the heat, I didn’t complain. It needed done, and I was the one to do it.…
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It’s Worth Celebrating
Regardless of who you are or where your father is, we all have a Heavenly Father who loves us more than our human minds can comprehend and wants to share in a relationship with us. Have a very Happy Father’s Day!
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Three Reasons Many Christians Don’t Know Their Calling
Unlike most Christians I know, my faith walk has been sort of a DIY project. Of course I’m being a bit silly, but for a girl who met Jesus alone in her room one very dark night, there was just no possibility of it coming together with any more finesse than I could muster in my own ignorance. I was sixteen, had trust issues and didn’t talk to anyone about the inner turmoil I was battling, and I certainly didn’t discuss my supernatural experience with God that changed the entire trajectory of my life. It was years before I walked through the doors of that small Baptist church in Phenix…
