What really matters...

First, let me start by saying that Brene Brown's new book,  Braving the Wilderness , should be required reading for everyone these days. It speaks so much to our current societal reality. It is important, if only we can hear it. Ok, moving on... We as people are designed to see patterns in things. Sometimes we see patterns that don't exist and other times patterns help us understand that which is happening around  us. And there are the times that we refuse to acknowledge the connections between the patterns we see, but that is a post for another time. I have been told that my brain makes connections that other people don't see. I find it to be a true gift as someone who teaches and leads others. And over the last week I have been thinking about presence. There are three places these thoughts have come up. First, was from the aforementioned book,  Braving the Wilderness. In Chapter 4, titled "People are Hard to Hate Close Up: Move In," Brene Brown writes the fo

Apparently today is the International Day of Peace. I must admit it seems like a great ideal, but these days, it feels pretty unrealistic. The world seems more chaotic, more frightening, more out of control every day, and I often wonder where to even begin in my efforts to be a peacemaker. And yet I do believe peace is possible. If you are my friend on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you will see that I often post nature pictures because nature is a place where I feel at peace, where I feel a connection to God that is hard to come by in the distractions and busyness of the rest of my life. There is a wisdom to nature - it is not in a hurry. But that is not how we live our lives. We are always in a hurry, always rushing to what is next. In her book,  Searching for Sunday  Rachel Held Evans talks about the difference between a cure and healing. She writes, "The thing about healing as opposed to curing, is that it is relational. It takes time. It is inefficient, like a mean

Do you ever have a day that comes with a message that seems impossible to miss? Like it's a giant neon sign, or God hitting you up side the head with a 2x4. That was my day today. It started at Girls on the Run. I volunteer on Tuesdays as a running buddy, and each day there is a lesson about empowerment, friendship, or some other important life lesson for the girls, as well as time to run and take care of our physical selves. Today's theme was "Star Power", and it was all about those things that we do that shine - kindness, confidence, encouragement, and so much more. But that was a lesson for girls in 4th and 5th grade, and relatively easily ignored after my crazy earlier day. However, since I didn't get enough exercise during Girls on the Run to achieve the goals set by my Apple Watch, and I currently have a streak of almost 60 days going, I needed a little more exercise. So I decided to go to the gym and get on the bike for 20 minutes. And I decided to star

It's Vacation Bible School week this week at church. We are using the Cokesbury curriculum, Hero Central, so yesterday the kids all made capes in crafts. I have taken a more back seat role in VBS this year, opting to primarily serve on the media team during the opening and closing, but I did offer my game-leading experience to any crew leaders who wanted them. So last night I met up with the 2nd and 3rd graders who had just come from making their capes, and I noticed that a couple of the kids had chosen to turn their capes around, and I commented that they were more like aprons - and that I was totally ok with that because people who cook are certainly superheroes in my book. Fast forward to today. I am off on Mondays so I went to the pool to enjoy some of this gorgeous Ohio weather we have been having, and I picked up a book that I have been reading off and on:  Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church  by Rachel Held Evans. And as I picked up where I left o

I love the Psalms. I love the Psalms because they are real. There is emotion and life in the Psalms. Sometimes when I read the stories of the Bible, like stories of Jesus, it is easy for me to jump to the end or just think of them as stories because I have been hearing them my whole life, and I have to remind myself that these stories are real. I have to consciously put the emotion and the life into the story. But not so with the Psalms. With the Psalms the emotions are so evident. And so many of the psalms were written by one man – David. And he has an quite the story. You see David didn’t have the life he anticipated. The first time we meet David, he is a young shepherd boy off tending flocks. The prophet Samuel comes to his home after being told that one of Jesse’s sons is to be the next king. After all 7 of Jesse’s older sons are not found to be the right one, Samuel asks if he has any more sons, to which Jesse responds, only the youngest is left – he is out with the sheep. Jesse s

I am not a boat rocker. I am the classic middle child - the peacemaker, the people pleaser, the one who wants everyone to like me. But I still have opinions (of course) and lately they have been harder and harder to keep to myself. There are many reasons that I try to do so - I don't think arguing with strangers (or friends) on the internet is helpful. I want to be someone who adds value to the conversation rather than taking it away and if I feel like what I am going to say will lead to greater division, then it's generally not worth it. I also work for a church and acknowledge that my professional life and personal life are inseparable. And yet lately it's harder and harder to keep quiet. I have said for years that the thing that scares me most about our culture is the "I'm right and you're stupid" mentality that has overtaken so much of society. We don't seek to have conversation. I used to be proud that my friend list was representative of both s