Everyday

Deeply Loved

My deepest awareness of myself is that I am deeply loved by Jesus Christ and I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it. To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark. In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means. As Thomas Merton put it, "A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God". ― Brennan Manning,…

10,000 Reasons

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning. Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes. You're rich in love, and slow to anger. Your name is great, and Your heart is kind. For all Your goodness I will keep on singing, ten thousand reasons for my heart to find. And on that day when my strength is failing, the end draws near and my time has come, still my soul will sing Your praise unending. Ten…

Evergreen Rays

"There is something wonderful and healthy and healing about being outside. Being outside reminds me of life and God, and growth and energy, and motion of nature, all things I forget so easily when I spend my life too much indoors, too much in a world of laptops and laundry and lists." -Shauna Niequist; Present Over Perfect

Something Wonderful

Christmas morning at Leverty's Traditional Trees 2014 "There is something wonderful and healthy and healing about being outside. Being outside reminds me of life and God, and growth and energy, and motion of nature, all things I forget so easily when I spend my life too much indoors, too much in a world of laptops and laundry and lists." --Shauna Niequist; Present Over Perfect

Who You Are

"You find peace not by rearranging the circumstances of your life, but by realizing who you are at the deepest level." —Thomas Merton  

Always Gratitude

I have much gratitude for the momentum of time. It reminds me that the earth is never stagnant, nothing stands still, the sun will always rise, summer will always come, there will always be a yesterday. Everything continues forward along this path of time, sometimes in harmony with it and sometimes struggling to keep up. Whether in peace or friction, there is always a purpose. And what I find amazing is that God has connected us on the vast continuum…

Light & Dark

When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer. To live by grace means to acknowledge my…

Go!

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. -Howard Thurman South Island, New Zealand

New Season

Spring is here! My scaly skin sees the sun again. Fresh flowers fill the farmers markets. And windows are open with new air. As the calendar flips to a new month, I find myself personally entering a new season in life. I’ve lived through a lot of seasons but all of them had a common theme: busy! For many years I was busy with school. Busy with moving. Busy with boys. Busy with planning my next adventure. Busy trying to be…