The hardest-easy thing we ever have to do: asking for what we need
So many of us don’t ask for what we need. Perhaps because when we risk making a request, we’re met by a world that asks, “Do you really need that?” or “Is that a want or a need?” Because in so many places – at least in the circles where I listen in – we have […]
The Space Between Gratitude and Glory
“You can make people feel,” he told me. That’s high praise, coming from a world famous poet and a marvelous compliment coming from a person who is in touch with “all the feels.” But it’s not me “making people feel.” The stories I share and the way I share them is thanks to the people who […]
Got that feeling in my body*
Ugly words hurt.Clashing colors make me nauseous.Stripes with plaid make me dizzy. Grim news turns my stomachLoss twists my heart.A word stabsA look penetratesCriticism batters. Thoughts and experiences are, for me, physical.I quite literally feel your pain. Yet,Accept me and my heart bursts!Kindness enfoldsCaring caressesEyes that listen warm meEars that see startle me. My body […]
First we must stand
Walking, it’s as natural as breathing. Put one foot in front of the other. Move it on out. It wasn’t always this way. Once, we couldn’t hold our head up, couldn’t roll over couldn’t sit without toppling couldn’t rock on all fours could not even crawl. Imagine, there was a time when we were stuck in […]
Still, not stationary
Still. Is it even possible to be still, in the presence of one who is never still? Mirror neurons, they are a-buzzin’ How is it that God, who is stillness, is strength and power, endurance and accomplishment, rest and calm, undiminished all? While I, overtaken by sorrow at the weeping, muffled by the world’s accounting, leaden […]
A functional faith: the Struggle is Real
I want a functional faith — not just a faith of works, but a faith that works. a faith that works out, a faith that works for, a faith that functions. I want a faith that does, while I am doing other things, faithfully. a faith that works its way into my day, along my […]
The Trust Game
Have you ever played the trust game? Where someone demonstrates trust in his or her fellows by falling backward into the waiting arms of a team of people set to catch her or him? Blind fall. Big risk. No guarantee. Complete confidence. TRUST. Whom do you trust like that? I just played a new trust game. […]
More than alive
I need to see some evidence of life before I can declare it alive. The textbook says that a thing must move, grow, reproduce, metabolize, and respond to stimuli to qualify as alive. I need to … move through difficulty and ease grow in spirit and in strength reproduce and mentor to replace partake only my portion […]
We’re made to flow downhill
We prefer to take the easy way, the smooth path of least resistance. We’re made that way. On the inside, we have particles that flow downhill electrons that take the short route circuits that choose the easy way We’re made to go with the flow, so we’ll operate smoothly. It’s by design that the easy way is the best way, […]
When Hide and Seek Becomes Here I am
Ready or not, here I come!” I always loved hearing those words because that’s when the fun really began. I knew all the best hiding places around our house. In the stairwell, behind the bushes, between the pine trees, by the swing set… What made them good was this: you could see the seeker, but […]