There isn’t a precise moment when you can see it happen. Only that he has grown. It’s not an abrupt shift, and could possibly only be observed through a time lapse filming, like the BBC’s Planet Earth footage of a flower blooming or a sunrise from space. It is as dramatic and beautiful as that, too. Truly the bloom, the…
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If we try to hide our children from controversial content, they may not learn to think for themselves about important issues they’ll face throughout their life. If we try to force our own views on them without demonstrating openness to always-new ways of seeing people, we might miss a chance to teach and learn the mightiest of skills ourselves. If…
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Recently I had the privilege of hearing two brilliant pastors on different ends of the country speak – live – and directly to me as if they had read the whole messy complicated backstory before their talk began. First, I listened to Pastor Jim Samra’s teaching all the way from our former church in Michigan (thanks to live web streaming)…
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There is such intellectual richness in each thought from My Utmost that I usually need to step slowly through the deep water. (That’s probably why I have to work up the nerve to open the book and it only happens in sporadic spurts.) I give you these two excerpted lines from today’s teaching: We…
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Here are a few interesting dots to connect. Yesterday CNN covered loads about their own media industry. Wait, is that a circular reference? No matter. They featured a shouting panel of experts arguing whether or not we should vilify the writers of Glee who predictably leveraged the public debate of guns in schools to desperately elevate their ratings. An equal…
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I’ve spent my business life working to understand what makes people tick and finding creative ways to connect with them. Sometimes the study is about people with whom I have much in common, but mostly I’ve learned about people who think quite differently to me. I know this is part of what I’ve loved about my job because it’s also what…
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We all have issues with bones. These bones are unique parts of us that are from our childhood or other [character-building] events, or simply because we were born with them. They’re dense as an oak. And they are part of our framework whether we want them or not. Like my big feet, in some ways I’m stuck with them. My…
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One of the significant slivers of conditioning that I’ve had to wrestle as a shattered-and-redeemed woman, is many years of training that sin has tiers. Sort of like a small, medium and double-triple-XL spectrum of sin measurement. Unfortunately when I learned the beautiful gift of confession, it was apparently attached to a commensurate punishment, which of course, meant my 12-year-old…
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Does a week’s blogging absence demand an explanation? (I hope so;) I’ve been recovering. Early last week I stood before hundreds of women and told my scandalous story of ‘mad woman redeemed.’ A friend asked, “is this by choice?” My sister said, “No, technically it’s not normal for people to want to confess their ugly past.” I wouldn’t say it…
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My family thinks I’m obsessed with pulling weeds. Truly, I have been known to stop mid-stride to pull one weed, wearing heels and white trousers, carrying my laptop, only to find myself amassing huge green piles as I work my way around the front walk. They could be right. What’s more, my husband is patient with my chronic disease of…
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JUNE 28, 2012 Erik Mendoza was born 20 years ago today. He was named Erik Mendoza because the rhythm and click of the name resonated in my heart and I liked the sharpness of the K with the Z. I gave him his middle name to honor my father: Donald. It’s a good noble name. His name took on a…
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It finally came. Like many, I followed closely as my best-friend-Don (who I’ve not yet technically met actually in real person face-to-face) struggled and amazed everyone with the whole GET IT TOLD process. The BLJ book, the other book about the making of the movie, the funding of the movie, the almost not movie …. (inhale) and now the public…
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We all have ‘em. We have lots of them and they are blocking our view. They block a clear view of our parents, our business situations, our finances, our children, our miraculous spouses and ourselves. We have scales on our eyes. Important aspects of understanding and knowledge; grace and compassion, even intelligence. All distorted because we have scales. Some people have scales…
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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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I got caught shoplifting when I was 18 years old. I know, I know. REALLY late-bloomer. The security guard’s cold hand clenched my left wrist as I attempted to leave the store without paying for the pair of jeans that hid in my bag. The crime took place in a Hudson’s department store in 1980 in a middle-class suburb of…
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was the day she died. stand by while I regain my equilibrium.
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How can this be? Flooded with a new blessing. Understanding grace as it overcomes me with a love and forgiveness undeserved. Gifts of love on this earth that shock me with joy. Each time I feel a new sense of my on weakness(es!), I am simultaneously washed with the blood – the unmistakable and unfathomable love of God. I see…
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Yes, it’s that awesome. Yes, it’s that difficult. Yes it’s that important. Whether it’s holding our temper, our words, our panic, our fear… our reaction to a situation we don’t like or didn’t anticipate demonstrates our intention to be adult, loving, professional, God-glorifying. I constantly learn this in my work, in my parenting, and of utmost importance, my marriage and…
