In our day to day, especially when we feel the busyness of daily life, it’s easy to feel pressured. Pressures of to do lists, meals to prepare, sippy cups to fill, and spills to wipe.

We pour over our people until our own cups feel dry.

And in those moments of tired, we can revert to feelings of empty. And this is where it happens, weary digs deep and our feelings try to get the final say.

Yes, we love our people, but our mouths stop speaking life to them. Yes, we adore our wild blessings, but we start parenting from our feelings instead.

Love, if given the chance to sit at your table, would say this…𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱, 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗱. You get that right and many other things will unfold unforced into place.

When our identity is rooted anywhere other than the cross, branches can get tangled in unhealthy ways. Unnourished roots cannot grow-

Remember that old Aesop tale? The one with tortoise and hare, running for the finish line? How hare bounced high and low boasting its own merits, belittling a slow tortoise? Here’s what the bunny forgot: the turtle was tenacious…

If I had to narrow down 𝟤𝟢𝟣𝟢-𝟤𝟢𝟤𝟢 to one singular word, it’d be this: 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘵. And while the word itself will likely never be picked for a special word award, It’s under appreciated, under thanked, under believed in its beauty…

Faith isn’t fairy dust.⁣ ⁣It doesn’t just need sprinkling when convenient and it won’t guarantee easy days. In fact, the days that faith grows the quickest is on the hard days, the days you never would choose to experience, the days that gravity pulls the knees to the ground in skinned human surrendering.⁣

𝗜 𝘄𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁:

𝘼𝙢 𝙄 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙗𝙗𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖𝙬𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙤𝙧? I was embarrassed when I finally realized 𝖨 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗁𝗎𝗌𝗍𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍𝗌. I was hamster wheel hustling, running from my own miserable stuckness. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘸𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥, 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘣𝘰𝘹𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯, 𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘌𝘥𝘦𝘯.

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱, 𝗚𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗰𝗸-𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨.

You don’t have to sacrifice living to have a great life.

We can spin wheels to exhaustion trying to cover our humanity, our broken hearts and shattered dreams. We can self-medicate, self-loath ourselves into soul frozen paralysis all day long. Shame would have you running frantic even when no one chasing. 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘃𝗲. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁? 𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙘𝙖𝙣’𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪.

If you’ve prayed for spiritual rescue while you are in a desert, please don’t ignore the nourishing water God puts in front of you by walking past.

Some moments are worth pausing for, to sit gobsmacked at its beauty. It’s a good day for a great day!

𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲: 𝖻𝗂𝗋𝗍𝗁, 𝖽𝖾𝖺𝗍𝗁, 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙬𝙚𝙚𝙣. There’s a huge margin of unknown in the between, the outcome between 0% and 100% that everything will work out beyond wildest hopes and dreams. Unknowns can muster fear quicker than lightning.

But, this. This down deep in my soul I’ve witnessed. God is greater than fears, He’s already painted hope down into your dna and meets you where you are.

That margin between 50 and 100 percent?…

Albert Einstein was an interesting man. From the outside, he was peculiar curious, quirky scientific genius to the people of his time. He didn’t seem to get ruffled over conventional academic adornment. He kinda just did his own thing, despite the climate of his generation. One of his quirks that rattled colleagues was his love of…

𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀? 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙙 𝙙𝙖𝙮𝙨.

Days that felt long, even when they knew the years would feel short.

𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺? 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀. Don’t forget to savor joy along the way.

I grew up wanting to be a nurse on the mission field. I prayed diligently that God would send me where He wanted/needed me most.

𝗛𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲.

We underestimate the need our children have to connect with us relationally. We trust words that reassure us children are resilient. And like other humans, children are resilient like us. It, just like us, their body remembers what they are connected to. Choose your child. Over and over, your child is a better choice than anything the internet will offer.

This leaf

on the ground

this morning-

-one of the first falling from a silver maple outside the living room window.

And-

I know it’s coming soon,

the silver maple will feel the wind

and know it’s time.

It isn’t the mountain ahead to climb that wears you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe. -a proverb 

This late summer crepe myrtle branch blazed into autumn with orange on its mind. Add in snippets of purple from a neighboring tree. It brought autumn beauty to our living area. Nature indoors for the moments we cannot be outdoors.

Parenting our children equal doesn’t mean parenting them identical-yes, this means that you’ll have to make hard decisions. The “easy” child and the “challenging” child both deserve unrelenting love, but loving the challenging child unrelentingly will at times mean you’ll have to parent the two children differently. Often, the challenging child WILL desperately need more of your time and attention.

It doesn’t mean you love the easy kiddo less, it means you love the challenging kiddo just as much-you’re not willing to leave any child behind.

As someone who grew up in a era when nightly homework was rare, especially in the elementary and junior high years, I have so many thoughts and ponders about homework. As a mother who watched nightly homework(starting the FIRST night of kindergarten)arrive when our oldest was in a public school setting, I remember wondering why in the world was a child getting sent home with homework in elementary years.

Homework doesn’t bring relationship together, it doesn’t reinforce healthy lifestyle. It attempts to cover material that wasn’t covered thoroughly in class.