This morning I discovered that a certain work benefit was being taken away and replaced with something inferior. That old familiar pang of indignation helplessness mixed with anger reared its ugly head. Never mind the objective reason that it is a for-profit company reallocating money from one thing to another, I felt indignant, affronted, entitled to the previous level of benefits I enjoyed before.
Read MoreIf you grew up going to church as a kid during the 90s, it’s likely you acquired at least one bracelet with WWJD printed on it. They popped up suddenly and it seemed like everyone had one. Maybe you wore one to remind you to ask yourself “What Would Jesus Do?” during any situation you might find yourself in.
Read MoreWe have a sandbox at school. My students like to make sand pies, dig to the bottom of the box, make tracks, build sandcastles. Everyday is a completely new adventure when it comes to the sandbox. The other day, I sat down by a tiny human (about three years old) who decided to build a sandcastle. He chose the perfect pail and perfect shovel. Then he sat down to begin his work. He meticulously shoveled sand into the pail until it was full. After a few tugs on the pail, he managed to turn it over into the sandbox to dump the sand out. As he pulled the pail up, I watched the sand topple down in a messy heap. I took a breath, prepared to reassure him that we could try again together. But he looked at me with the proudest smile you’ve ever seen, and giggled.
Read MoreI’ve been reflecting on security a lot. My cat finds security in cozy spots - the space between the toilet and the sink, under the covers of my bed, a box of clothes to donate sitting on my closet floor, or even the back of a kitchen cabinet if I accidentally leave it open. When he’s scared or nervous, he’ll crawl into those places because they make him feel safe.
Read More“If you don’t use it, you lose it!” We’ve all heard that phrase before. It usually revolves around different skills like being able to play a sport well or speaking a different language fluently. As an immersion teacher, I can usually tell when one of my students speaks Spanish outside the classroom because when they communicate, it’s typically effortless.
Read MoreHope. When I became a social worker, that was the word given to me. Dreams. The word it has shifted to in recent years. One of my mentors told me once I was a “hope dealer”. I was someone with the willingness to believe everyone could achieve their dreams with Christ. Many times you could find me sitting beside a single mom and her newborn baby, dreaming and planning how she could buy her first home even while sitting in the ash and pain of an unplanned pregnancy and single parenthood.
Read MoreThis post got waylaid. I approached it in a light-hearted mood, ready to look at the silly fantasies advertisers tried to sell us in days past about homemaking. I ended up appalled.
Read MoreSatisfaction is something that we all strive for in life. We want to be happy, fulfilled, and content. It is easy to feel content when everything is going our way, but how can we find satisfaction and feelings of fulfillment when circumstances are not ideal?
Read MoreBridges of Madison County (1995), Notebook (2004), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), An Affair to Remember (1957). Have you ever seen these movies? If you haven’t seen them, I can’t in good conscience recommend them, they are very secular and represent lifestyles we as Christians should not seek to emulate. But let’s be honest, we’re all women here, more than one of us has clutched a tissue box or pint of ice cream and wept through one of these films. I mean, he wrote her 365 letters for a year! And she was hit by a taxi! Their love is just meant to be!
Read MoreLet’s just go ahead and get this out of the way: It’s been a hard year. With all that’s happening, it’s easy to want to just finish this year on auto-pilot. But what if 2020 is actually an opportunity for us to grow in our faith?
Read MoreWe called it the Meeting Place. In 2019, I finished the Perspectives course with some close guy friends of mine, and we were fired up! We wanted to serve Jesus to the ends of the earth, but all of us weren’t in a place to pick up and go. Not all of us had the means to move to the ends of the earth. But we all had the same desire: to build a stronger community for college-age Christians and grow deeper in our faith. We decided to call it the Meeting Place, and that’s all we knew.
Read MoreYou have to love yourself. You have one life, do this for you. These are just a few of the phrases I have recently encountered while I exercise with online trainers. I understand their job - to motivate me and everyone else listening. While I can see how this would be quite motivating and keep me cycling/running, what if these were mantras for our lives?
Read MoreLast week I started a new job. As crazy as it might sound now given how the past few months have been, back in January I talked with my boss to let her know that I would be resigning in May because I wanted to switch careers. It was nerve-wracking to be voluntarily searching for a job during a period when so many other people were just focusing on trying to keep their current jobs.
Read MoreThis blog post is inspired by the Orange Curriculum that my 10th grade girls are undergoing at this time. Our most recent series is Finding Rhythm. It made me think about my daily, weekly, monthly, yearly rhythm with God. Besides going to church every Sunday, and midweek on Wednesdays how do I find my rhythm with God? If one is seeking rhythm with God, how does one start?
Read MoreDoubting Thomas was one of Jesus’ disciples. He is put in that box of "doubter" throughout history for one thing: doubting Jesus' resurrection. Yet, we can learn much from Thomas' life and ministry.
Read MoreWhat do you do when you feel unqualified to go after your dreams? If you are currently feeling this way, you are in good company. Throughout the Bible, we see God use people who feel unqualified.
Read MoreBooks are often most powerful when they introduce us to new people. Reading a life transcribed on a page allows us to hear their thoughts and to see what they saw in a more visceral way than a podcast or film asks of us. Some authors’ lives are very different from our own, while others bear striking similarities.
Read MoreWhen we say that we “know” someone, what does that mean? We usually describe that person using labels and identities. “She is a doctor, a mother, a runner.” But what happens when we change jobs, graduate college, or become injured and can no longer run?
Read MoreIt started with a hike and my prideful frustrations at the bottom of a mountain. I was miffed. Life was not going the way I wanted and, honestly, hadn’t been for a few months now, and I was going to take a solo hike to exercise my independence. It was the one thing I could control, the one thing I could orchestrate, and with that attitude in mind I started hiking.
Read MoreAre you in a rut with your Bible reading? I’ve been there, sweet friend. Because of that, I thought I'd write a little about what I've been reading in the Bible recently. This past weekend found me in the book of Amos, and I'd love to show you a little of what jumped out at me.
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