What’s saving my life right now?  Have you ever asked yourself this question? I do occasionally and find this question is life-giving, uplifting, refreshing and provides a moment of rest for my spirit. What’s saving my life right now is a question Emily Freeman (A true mentor of mine) asks frequently. She discovered this question in a book by Barbara Brown Taylor (another mentor of mine!) in her book, Leaving Church. Taylor shares the story of being a guest speaker at an event. When she asked for her topic, this was her host’s request: “Tell us what is saving your life right now.” These words invite us to pause, reflect, and savor what is giving us life at this moment. When I relistened to Emily’s podcast and what she was noticing in her life, that question dug deep into my soul. What is saving my life right now? What’s Saving my Life Right Now? Matlock Kathy Bates and the TV show Matlock. Have you watched this yet?  A friend – thanks, Dee - mentioned the show to me … [Read more...]

Simple is often the best choice. I stared at the simple paper clip. That is all it took. A simple paper clip.  A twist of a wire. The technician on the other end of a live chat helped me tackle a tech problem with my internet router. He suggested we do a reset. “Take a paper clip,” he said, “insert it into the tiny hole for three seconds to reboot the system.”  We then proceeded to follow a few easy steps and bingo, my internet was back online and all was well. A simple paper clip. I think too often we make things more complicated than we need to. Where I had been overwhelmed by frustration with technology and near to tears with obstacles and confusion, a simple paper clip saved the day. I smiled at this little gadget and had to look up its history.   Paper has been around for centuries being invented by the Chinese and ribbons, melting wax, and later straight pins were used to hold papers together.  It wasn’t until the mid 1800s until the paper clip … [Read more...]

Since the word “courage” crashed landed into my heart last fall and declared itself my word of the year for 2025, I have slowly welcomed my new friend into my life. Like any good writer, how do you get to know a word better?  Definition and word origin! What does courage mean?  Here are several definitions: Wow – huge, mighty, and grand words, aren’t they? I like this simpler one: Courage is the ability to do something difficult even when there's risk. Courageous people do and say what they think is right despite opposition. What about the origin of the word courage? The word courage comes from the Latin word cor, which means "heart." Brene Brown writes, “In one of its earliest forms, the word courage had a very different definition than it does today. Courage originally meant "To speak one's mind by telling all one's heart. Over time, this definition has changed, and today, courage is more synonymous with being heroic. Heroics is important and we certainly … [Read more...]

I love to occasionally share my Four Somethings – things I have read, seen, experienced that made me stop and savor life. One practice I frequently promote is reflection – pausing and pondering where you are, where you have come from and where is God inviting you into next.  I share bits of wisdom in four categories. Gathering Four Somethings makes me aware of all the blessings often hidden under busyness, worries, and distractions. These “somethings” become markers in our spiritual journey. With so much pivoting and uncertainty in our lives right now, being grounded in a simple practice like this guides my way.  Something Wise “The real enemies of our life are the “oughts” and the “ifs.” They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future. But real life takes place in the here and the now. God is a God of the present. God is always in the moment, be that moment hard or easy, joyful or painful. When Jesus spoke about God, he … [Read more...]

Each year I choose a word of the year that walks with me, guides me, forms me, teaches me lessons along the way. This is a spiritual practice I have enjoyed for more than 10 years and find it deepens my self-knowledge, adds clarity and meaning, and helps me grow closer to God. Some years the word is fun; some years it is challenging. Some years I find a word easily; others I have to dig, wait, search for just the right one. But occasionally the word finds me. That happened this year. I usually begin in late fall listening and looking for what words sound interesting or keep reappearing. I start a list and keep it handy on my desk and jot down possibilities. Later I write them in my journal and begin to prayerfully consider each one, seeing if one bubbles more to the top. I may circle a few that draw my attention. I may write down a couple of new ones. One morning mid-December I quietly sat with my journal open staring at the words: hope, now, behold, walk, near…all circled. … [Read more...]

Being on the cruise ship for 30 days gave me lots of boat and ocean metaphors to dance in my heart. One of the strongest images was ANCHOR. Three times the cruise ship didn’t dock in the port but anchored off shore and we “tendered” on smaller boats to the islands.  “Tender” is another interesting word as they use the ship’s lifeboats to transport us back and forth from the boat to the shore and it is NOT often very tender to board these smaller ships from the larger ship with all the rocking and rolling of the waves up and down.  Yes, they had several large crew members standing on both sides of us, steadying us as we entering the smaller tenders to head to shore. But it was sort of scary to take that step from one side to another on such uneven, precarious shaking surface!  What an adventure. Like an amusement park ride thrill! As we enjoyed our time on the islands the large cruise ship waited, anchored in the port. ANCHORED but not still. The waves slowly moved … [Read more...]