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Advent week 4: Peace
It’s okay, maybe even better than okay to let Christmas unfold as it is this year. If we let ourselves out of the trap of “spectacular” and just ease toward good enough, we might find that peace is waiting for us.
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Receiving…
My strong friends, the ones who meet the needs around them are the first to offer what they have, and the last to ask for what they need. These women (and men) pour themselves out on behalf of others, and they sometimes forget that they need filling too.
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It won’t be like this for long…
Some days I worry about the mistakes of my life. I can see the shadows of my bad choices still impacting my children. I carry a load of regrets that I’m not yet ready to put down. But, no matter what else is true… being their mom will always be my greatest accomplishment.
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What friendship costs…
I want to be that kind of friend. On the dark days, in the middle of the storms of life, I want to be someone who can be trusted to show up and speak truth. I want to trust the love of my people enough to make myself vulnerable… if it will help. I want to be someone who can be trusted in the dark alleys of the soul.
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Beginning again, in the middle…
It is an unsettling thing to have new beginnings shoved into the middle of your life. I’ve found that it doesn’t matter if those new beginnings are of your own choice, or forced on you by others. A change in career, relocation, divorce or remarriage, the shuffling of family life can all leave us feeling lost in the middle. Share this...FacebookPinterestTwitterLinkedin
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Walking through the transitions…
My social media feeds have been full of friends doing hard things for the past few weeks. One friend moved her 16-year-old into college and watched her drive down the road for the first time… in the same week. Another said goodbye to her adult son who is moving several states away. I saw a momma’s sweet post about her boy going to full day kindergarten. Oh, sister. None of this is easy. Share this...FacebookPinterestTwitterLinkedin
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Take responsibility for your one wild and precious life…
As I look at my calendar, I am thinking about what I want this fall to feel like. What pace do I want in my life? How do I want my days, weeks, and months to feel? I’ve made a list of this fall’s responsibilities. Keith and I have talked about our goals, and our hopes and made decisions about time off, travel, and our social life over the slow days of summer.
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Trusting their fear…
This principle can be a life saver during the “in-between” years of young adulthood. When our children head out in to the wider world, it’s easy for us to see all the dangers and pitfalls around them. We caution, we lecture, we scold, and we wear ourselves out. Often to no avail. It seems that they no longer listen to what we have to say.
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Our vows, now…
We have faced many kinds of better and worse over the course of our long marriage. We learned to fight for understanding, and for one another. We don’t always agree. We have very different ways of seeing the world, but we’ve learned that being together has made our best days better, and our worse days much less daunting.
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Homecoming…
I think that love is more like this than the movies say. It’s jet lag and hospital waiting rooms. It’s Mom showing up each week, even when grandma doesn’t know her. It’s loading tables and clearing out the debris of life. It’s a homemade urn. It’s inside jokes, old stories, and long chuckles. I think love looks like a life lived together.