There is a gap… and we hope we are standing in it. My beautiful 13 year old girl is on one side… Knowledge, Confidence, Security, Purity, Achievement, Direction all reside on the other side of the gap. Distraction, peer pressure, foolishness, juvenile understanding, media are in the swamp between. As it turned out, the texting from Foolish Boys continued and…
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we rightfully marvel we rightfully marvel at the crazy wild blooms that popped up everywhere today! One tree still clings to Christmas lights because they have helped bring beauty to a dull February landscape. No longer dull.
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Lets see, we pay the Verizon bill for her cell phone/texting appendage. And she’s 13 (an 8th grader!). Her behavior is high caliber and she’s not done anything to challenge our trust. We believe in the mantra that our children will rise to the occasion of our trust and honor. We know our job is to teach boundaries. We also…
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Even though we’re all motivated, talented, focused creators of our art, sometimes we have to PUSH THROUGH RESISTANCE, don’t we? When I need a kick in the keyboard, I reach for my EMERGENCY INSPIRATION file. I titled it READ ME FIRST and I keep the brilliance fresh by switching out quotes from authors and thinkers that are particularly helpful at…
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One of my favorite ideas is Parker Palmer’s way of teaching ABUNDANT LIVING. Living Abundantly means having no fear of scarcity and understanding the larger concept of the flow of goods – or goodness. This means that our world’s logic is turned upside down. Gripping tightly brings less and letting go means [we get] more. My great husband sometimes wants…
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Now I step committed into a new course of study. My first assignment: absorb the teaching that’s housed in a book thought up by Dr. Henry Cloud a few years back. (Not to toot my own horn, but once again, it’s all connected.) GRACE ……. TRUTH …………… TIME All three essential: each one with particular and custom proportions for each…
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SUNDAY 6PM. We pull into the driveway with two over-tired kids. Riley played in this weekend’s volleyball tournament with her whole heart and she rose to a whole new level of skill. Eighth grade, right? She’s growing powerful right before our eyes. We emptied the giant vehicle “Frank” and I poured a sleeping Jack onto the couch. We love our…
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Maybe we should be committed. (hmmm… does it negate the “committed” part if we say “maybe”?) Scratch that; let’s keep going. Saturday: Today we have a two-hour drive to Riley’s weekend volleyball tournament, and we accept the opportunity to ponder yet another transformational life-moment. This week we made some key decisions. We settle into the truth that both Steve and…
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I have talked about leaping so often in the last few years that TODAY must have been placed here for me to celebrate … and leap again. You’ll have to forgive me, but this is my day. It might have been invented to correct the bad math of a solar year versus the 24-hour days that makeup a calendar year…
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Try This on for size: When we come to the end of our belief that everything we portray needs to be seen by the world as perfect, our obsession with ourselves as perfect, which is a façade exhausting to uphold, is replaced by our deep understanding that we are already perfect in pursuit of our best selves as we are…
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I’ve traveled a somewhat circuitous pathway from the religious rules of my childhood, to a new understanding of the full work of Jesus-God (which is emphatically law-averse for many good reasons), to a new independent place where I know that God sees through all spiritual camouflage. It is our hearts He wants – because only then can He free us…
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Seth Godin used it today and I knew right away I had to start a new game: The Friday Word. (i do so love to be unexpected.) TRIANGULATING IS EVERYWHERE. Satellites triangulate global positioning and tell us which streets will get us where we want to go. Google triangulates web traffic and our clicking and also tells us where we…
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“Excuse me, Ma’am, I have a follow-up comment?” I will never pretend to know whether or not a struggling marriage can be saved or a person should stay and try to make it work, or dust their feet. That is one of the most painful and personal decisions any person can make. It is true that God can do anything,…
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I know. I’m like that girl in the office who quit smoking and now thinks it’s her job to make every other smoker quit too. Right now. Annoying possibly, but you know she’s right. ~~~~~ It seems like every day I’m hearing about someone getting divorced. Or wants to. Maybe it’s my reticular activator running the show since I’ve been…
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He sent us away because it would feed our hearts. When I gently mentioned to Steve that I so wanted to go see Erik play basketball at his Multnomah University in Portland Oregon – and that Erik was genuinely begging to have me bring Jack and Riley too – my gallant husband embarked on a mission. Now you should know…
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We leave for our seven day trip to Portland Oregon to visit Erik’s school and see two Multnomah Lions basketball games! Since I’m outnumbered without Steve, we begin with a reminder of the instructions that are important for a six year old to hear regularly. [box] Stay close. We’ll be in crowded places and sometimes having to move quickly to…
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If I’m meant to to listen to my heart and let my head figure it out later, then why is it such a long way from my head to my heart? No, seriously. We hear our calling in our heart; sometimes it feels like our gut. But it’s the thoughts of resistance that keep us from pursuing our calling –…
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We decide what or who we allow to control us. Every day. We each allow someone or something to control us. Good News: We choose what that is. That doesn’t mean we compromise or ignore or isolate. It merely means we elevate the voice that leads us to a more vertical, freer presence with our self. It means we decide…
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Anyone over 40 will likely remember the movie DEFENDING YOUR LIFE. Albert Brooks and Meryl Streep and the rest of the newly dead are shown movie clips of their life on the big screen. In the movie, Brooks needs to defend his life-decisions that were rather dumb or cowardice. Streep gets to see puffy moments of bravery. First, I’m really…
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Erik in Southern California. His caption for this self-portrait: “Jesus time in the amazing weather every morning.”