Embrace the current season of your life.   Gabrielle Blair {sigh} Can I get a witness?   Some seasons of life are certainly easier to embrace than others.  But if we can learn to embrace the harder seasons, the darker seasons, the rainier seasons, and the painful seasons as well as the joyful seasons then we become better versions of ourselves.  It is in the harder seasons that we are really refined in character and where we grow as a person.  So if we could embrace it rather than push it away then we make beautiful things in ourselves and with other people.  Embracing the seasons of life, ALL of them, reminds me of, " Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end."   In time everything is made beautiful when given the space and attention it deserves.  Embrace your seasons, ALL of them, and watch God transform them into beauty in your li

When you have to start compromising yourself or your morals for the people around you, it's probably time to change the people around you.   Unknown Compromise:  :  a  concession  to something derogatory or prejudicial  <a compromise  of principles> When people in your life are asking you, knowingly or not, to change yourself and/or your morals for them and theirs then you need to take a step back and think long and hard about the possible consequences of what you are considering changing.  When we choose to put ourselves and who we are at our core on the back burner for others we have placed ourselves in a position of weakness.  Not standing firm for our beliefs and who we are is weakness not strength.  It is not strength to bend to someone else.  It is not strength to adopt immorality to make sure people are okay with you.  It is strength to stand tall and steady in the face of pressure to compromise.  It is strength to recognize toxic people and remove them from your l

May the bridges I burn light the way.   Unknown There's probably a couple of different ways to look at today's quote.  I'm choosing to look at it in a positive, letting-go-of- toxic-people-and-things-in-my-life kind of way. Sometimes we gotta burn bridges.  You've probably heard it said as a warning before. As in don't burn bridges behind you that you may need to cross back over again someday.  Okay, that's true but let's talk today about the bridges you should burn so you aren't tempted to turn around and cross them again.  Because let's face it, some bridges are getting worn out by all the crossing back and forth we've been doing.  And if all we are doing is traveling the same bridge then that means we aren't going anywhere.  Don't you want to go somewhere?  As in forward?  In order to do that you need to burn some bridges and let the light from their burn show you the way forward.  The bridges you need to burn are are different than

flux, n The natural state.  Our moods change.  Our lives change.  Our feelings for each other change.  Our bearings change.  The song changes.  The air changes.  The temperature of the shower changes.   Accept this.  We must accept this.   Unknown Oh we hate change don't we?  Even if, in the long run, the change is good for us.  We still hate it.  We kick against it, we fight it, we run from it.  We hate change.  It's so interesting to me how much we hate change and how we will do everything we can to avoid it, to keep it from happening.  Sure, some of the minor changes of life are inconvenient but when it comes to the biggies we view them as more than inconvenient.  They scare us.  We don't like the unknown and change is usually a bunch of unknowns.  I have discovered that a lot of times the big changes that are actually good for us usually happen by "force".  Since we are reluctant, at best, to allow the change to come usually it then has to be introduced th

Yesterday my family and I, with a group of friends, helped pack meals for kids all over the world who are starving and impoverished.  It's a fantastic organization doing amazing things and inviting people to participate.  You can check them out by clicking here .  Today's quote is true of me, perhaps you as well.  As I have gotten older, seen a few more things, made a few trips to some slums, and gained a better understanding of what scriptures like James 1:27  mean I have discovered that if I keep my hands and feet to myself not only do people lose out on what I can offer but I lose out on being enriched.  My hands and feet are not my own, they are meant to be extended and to help promote healing and life.  Since the lesson is so important I've made it part of my duty as a parent to teach this to my redheads early on on their lives so that they develop and cultivate a life that extends itself on behalf of the "least of these."  I believe when we use our hand

Fair isn't everybody getting the same thing, fair is everybody getting what they need in order to be successful.   Unknown Yep.  Let me say that again, yep.  I'm just like everyone else, I want things to be fair - for me and for others.  But that isn't the way things work and truthfully fair in the sense of everyone getting the same thing isn't for the best.  It's not the best for people, work places, parenting, pretty much anywhere. For example, in parenting.  At first Lanny and I started off doing the same thing for both girls.  If the oldest got a privilege then the youngest got the same one.  Over time we've seen that perhaps that isn't the best - in fact we have seen it isn't for the best!  They are two very different girls with very different personalities, needs, giftings, etc.  So what we do for one, to set her up for success, isn't necessarily best for the other, for her success.  Right?  Put that way you hopefully can see how true that i

Don't be so easily defined.   Unknown I've been talking with my redheads lately about this very topic of today's quote.  When we are easily defined then we are not unique.  And each of us has the potential for unique.  If we are easily defined then that can mean that we have allowed the norm to mold us instead of us making our own norm.  I think back to my middle school and high school days where the pressure to be defined by a group - jocks, nerds, popular, etc - was strong.  If you fit into the group and could be defined by the characteristics of the group then you were "in".  But were you really?  By being "in" you are giving up, or away, the things about you that make you unique.  You become easily defined instead of creating the definition.  As I'm encouraging my girls in this teenage season of life I will encourage you also, don't allow the definitions that are out there become you - go out and be your own definition.   

Feelings are much like waves, we can't stop them from coming but we can choose which one to surf.    Jonatan Martensson Feelings are a natural and normal part of our lives.  We experience them every day.  We have a choice about how to let them impact us every day.  Feelings play a big part in how we behave, how we speak, and what our  attitude  is.  Here's the thing about feelings.  Like Martensson aptly points out in  today's  quote, we have a choice.  When we see the wave of hurt feelings coming at us we can choose to either jump on it and ride it out or we can let it pass.  When we see a wave of anger headed straight toward us we can either ride that all the way to shore or we can hang back and let it pass. When we see a wave of happiness swell up we also have the choice to either take the wave or let it pass.  There's the waves of gratitude that come at us as well, usually at times when we aren't feeling so grateful.  Sometimes we've got two different kinds

...when we love God, we naturally run to Him-frequently and zealously. Jesus didn't command that we have a regular time with Him each day. Rather, He tells us to 'love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' He called this the 'first and greatest commandment' (Matt. 22:37-38). The results are intimate prayer and study of His Word. Our motivation changes from guilt to love.   Francis Chan *Disclaimer: My thoughts on today's quote are lengthy but that means they are important to me! * I've been a believer of God for a really long time.  And most of that time I was told and taught to make sure I had my "daily quiet time" or else I just wasn't cutting it with God and perhaps I wasn't close to God at all.  This is a widely taught and accepted mindset.  Problem is that isn't exactly biblical but Pastors, Churches, and Sunday School teachers all over the place have tried to make it biblical.  W

Instead of using "I'm human" as an excuse to walk in the flesh, try using "I'm saved" as a reason to walk in the Spirit.   Unknown I've done it, you've done it.  Uttered the words, "It's just who I am" as an excuse for bad behavior.  Um, NO.  Poor excuse.  It's the worst excuse.  It is not okay to behave badly, hurt people, act like an ass, and try to just shrug it off with the flippant "Deal with it because that's just me."  UGH.  Own your behavior.  Take responsibility for bad attitudes, hurting people with words and/or actions, and acting like an ass.  Don't try to con yourself and others by saying it's part of who are.  It's not.  If you are a believer of God and a follower of him then it's not who you are.  And you don't get to use the "I'm human" as an excuse for your bad behavior.  C'mon.  Instead of walking in the flesh and every so often trying to put God in there somewh

It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.   Lena Horne We all have some baggage to carry.  Sometimes it's short-term and other times it's long-term.  But baggage is baggage.  Awkward, weighty, cumbersome, kind of a hassle.  There's technique in how to handle baggage with ease, grace, and without making it seem as if it has us totally flustered!  It isn't the baggage that flusters us so much as it is our technique in carrying it.  In the literal sense of baggage, before the days of rolling luggage carrying around luggage was a P.A.I.N.  Amiright?  But nowadays almost all luggage is rolling luggage and life has sure gotten a lot easier for travel!  What if we approached our personal baggage the same way?  What if we quit trying to lug it around but instead attached rollers to it? We would be able to handle it, manage it, carry it a lot easier.  Right?  What do rollers on our own personal baggage look like?  Looks like people to help us d

You can't heal what you refuse to confront.   Unknown If you don't take a long, hard look at what is hurting you then you will not quit hurting.  Yes, it's scary to confront what is hurting you but face your fear to get to healing.  This goes for personal pain, relationships that have brokenness, or anything else that is causing pain and needs healing. As long as you ignore the brokenness you will have brokenness.  The only way healing comes is through confronting the brokenness.  It's a risk you need to take because you will find that the risk pays off.  You will be healed and that's the best pay off.  How do you confront brokenness?  Find healthy people who can help you confront the hurt, be brave enough to honestly assess your participation in the brokenness (if you did participate), and be brave enough to approach the people who caused part or all of the brokenness. Want to be healed?  Then confront the brokenness.

Things of quality have no fear of time.   Unknown I love today's quote.  I love the truth of it.  I love how when I read it for the first time it resonated in my spirit and settled into my mind as truth.   If it is quality then the time it takes to develop and grow won't be feared or despised.  You can apply this truth to anything that has the potential of quality.  I think we should consider it especially in relationships.  If it is a relationship that has the potential of quality then don't fear the time it takes to grow it, embrace the time.   Things rushed are never done very well or with quality.  When we allow fear to drive what we say, do, even believe we then create something sub-par.  If you see, if you sense, and if you know something has the potential of quality then embrace the time it takes to mature it and develop it.  Don't let fear dictate the overall quality of your life.  

The happiest people are those who, thread by daily thread, weave a tapestry of gratitude and wonder.   Dieter F. Uchtdorf I'm not very good with a thread and needle.  In fact, I'm really bad with them.  So bad I don't know how to actually use a thread and needle past threading it.  But today's quote I get.  I can thread the needle of happiness with gratitude and wonder and sew a pretty amazing tapestry.  But I have to choose it.  I have to choose, daily, to pick up the needle of happiness and thread it with gratitude and wonder.  If I just hold the needle of happiness but don't thread it then the tapestry won't get weaved.  You have to have a material, threads of gratitude and wonder in this case, in order to make something.  An empty needle isn't of any use.  Happiness is like that.  It is empty without something feeding it.  It is fleeting without the substance of gratitude and wonder.  Every day we get handed the needle of happiness and then we have th

Try not to confuse "attachment" with "love".  Attachment is about fear and dependency and has more to do with love of self than love of another.  Love without attachment is the purest love because it isn't about what others can give you because you're empty.  It is about what you can give others because you're already full.   Yasmin Mogahed Well happy valentine's day!  Today's quote popped up in my queue and I thought, "Why not!" *grin* When you can love without tying someone to you and trying to tie yourself to someone then you know you are loving in healthy and right ways.  Yes we can be attached but what is the attachment created from?  Chains of fear and co-dependency or "chains" of freedom and unconditional love (which aren't chains at all really)?  When we attach ourselves to someone and call it "love" it is only really love when we are not dependent on them for our emotions, our fulfillment, and our s

If the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal.   Unknown Today's quote gets in the way of part of my Type A personality.  I'm a planner but when my plans don't come to fruition or fail I can't get outside of the box and change the plan to still reach the goal.  I just wallow around for a while, floundering as if lost at sea.  DUH BETH.  Change the plan, try plan B or C and go down the alphabet until one of the plans reaches the goal!  If the goal is solid and realistic and healthy ( physically , spiritually, emotionally, mentally) then keep applying plans until one works!  Don't let the failure of plan A change the goal but let the goal spur me on to find a plan that will accomplish it.  Sounds so...simple, so...reasonable, so...logical.  And yet I flounder.  So I'm reminded today to quit wallowing and begin to get creative, move on to Plan B or C - or whatever letter I may be on - and continue to persevere toward my goals.  After all, a hug

Take time today to appreciate someone who does something you take for granted.   Unknown Everyday there are things happening all around us that we don't really see.  We've gotten so used to seeing them take place that we no longer actually see them.  You know what I mean?  For example, a public restroom.  We are used to having paper towels and toilet paper in them.  We don't necessarily know where they come from, they are just there.  Ahem.  Someone put them there.  Right?  Oh yeah, now you might be remembering that nothing gets done in life without someone doing it - putting a little effort in.  When was the last time you showed some appreciation, some gratitude, to someone who does something for you that you don't think much about but use?  Sure it might be their job BUT appreciation is still a good thing to show.  Place yourself in their shoes.  In fact, I'm willing to bet you are in their shoes in a different way!  What do you do that others use and probably

If we want to empower others, we must be willing to give up power.   Frank Ivy The key to releasing others to live in their potential is to give up power over the parts of their life that are holding them back.  Don't be so quick to step in and do for them what they should learn to do for themselves.  Allowing others to learn from mistakes, from life skills, and from other experiences empowers them to live in their potential.  Someone did it for us, we should pay it forward.  Hoarding power does nobody any good but empowering others ends up benefiting everyone.  

The beginning of love is the will to let those we love be perfectly themselves, the resolution not to twist them to fit our own image.   Thomas Merton If we love, truly love, someone then we will love them for who they are and not who we think they should be.  We will not try to transform the person into our ideas of what they should do, be, look like, etc.  If we find ourselves try to twist someone we say we love into our own image then perhaps we should ask ourselves, "Do we really love them?" and if so, "Why do we love them?"  We need to be resolved to love others well.  Loving well means we let them be themselves as they are letting us be ourselves.  

The healthy Christian is not necessarily the extrovert, ebullient Christian, but the Christian who has a sense of God's presence stamped deep on his soul, who trembles at God's word, who lets it dwell in him richly by constant meditation upon it, and who tests and reforms his life daily in response to it. J.I. Packer It is a mistake *we* often make to equate health - mental, spiritual, mental - with those who are more outgoing and/or extroverted.  I'm not sure why *we* do this.  Some of the most healthy people I know are quiet and/or introverted. In matters of faith, the healthiest Christian is one who heeds Psalm 119.  Yes, the WHOLE chapter 119.  Chapter 119 is all about walking along the paths of God's word.  And when we walk along the paths of God's word we become changed, peace-filled, and we are healthy in spirit. Let us not assume that just because someone is at the "front of the pack" that they are healthy.  Do not look for external evidence b

It is better, I think, to grab at the stars than to sit flustered because you know you cannot reach them.   R.A. Salvatore At the end of your life what do you want to be thinking about?  Regret that you didn't at least try to grab the stars or satisfaction that you pushed aside your doubts and hesitations and reached for those stars?  What do you have to lose by reaching for them?  Nothing!  What do you have to lose by sitting on the sidelines in self-defeat?  Well a lot of things actually.  You lose respect for yourself, you lose out on satisfaction, you lose out on the possibilities that lie among the stars, you lose the opportunity to grow in character , you lose your shine and sparkle.   Choosing not the reach for the stars because of fear will only lead to regret.  Reach for those stars, whatever they are, and find yourself shinin g and sparkling. 

A Story About Forgiveness At that point Peter got up the nerve to ask, “Master, how many times do I forgive a brother or sister who hurts me? Seven?” Jesus replied, “Seven! Hardly. Try seventy times seven. “The kingdom of God is like a king who decided to square accounts with his servants. As he got under way, one servant was brought before him who had run up a debt of a hundred thousand dollars. He couldn’t pay up, so the king ordered the man, along with his wife, children, and goods, to be auctioned off at the slave market. “The poor wretch threw himself at the king’s feet and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ Touched by his plea, the king let him off, erasing the debt. “The servant was no sooner out of the room when he came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him ten dollars. He seized him by the throat and demanded, ‘Pay up. Now!’ “The poor wretch threw himself down and begged, ‘Give me a chance and I’ll pay it all back.’ But he wo

Perhaps it takes courage to raise children. John Steinbeck Perhaps?!  Not perhaps!  IT DOES!  It takes courage.  It takes a stoutness that most days I'm not sure I have.  And then some days prove that I don't!   Recently my Mom and I have had to have a few conversations about parenting in today's world.  Every generation has its challenges to be sure (those Beatles!  They were rebels, haha!) but these days seem tougher than what has come before.  Perhaps if you've read this post of mine then you know what I'm going to say next.  Technology has done parents no favors.  Oh sure, there are some pros but overall it has hindered parenting in ways nobody ever saw coming.  My parents didn't have to monitor my online activity or my cell phone use - talking or text, they didn't have to teach me to look at people in the eye instead of remaining fixated on a screen.  And those are just a few examples of how tough it is today!  Technology has also encouraged kids to

To swear is neither brave, polite, nor wise. Alexander Pope   Adding to today's quote I would also say that to swear shows a lack of imagination.  I've been thinking about swearing a lot lately.  It's in movies, books, the mouths of children and their parents, even TV.  And that's just a few places it's heard.  Really?  It's the best *we* can come up with?  Pope was right, to swear is not using wisdom, bravery, nor being polite.  It shows a  distinct  lack of class.  It ends up usually being degrading to others and vulgar in its intentions. Now I've said a word or two in my days.  And sometimes I think the word.  I rarely speak it out loud.  Because I'm better than other people?  No.  Why then?  Because I have a filter and I choose to engage it.  I choose to think carefully about how I want other people to know me and think of me.  Sometimes I slip.  And when I do I immediately feel bad because it's not who I am.  Guess what?  It's not really

Ours is an active faith.  It is made alive and appealing only when our nouns turn into verbs.   Nancy Leigh DeMoss Nouns are cheap, the worth of something is found in verbs.  (In case you aren't getting it because it's a Monday morning that's a play on the phrase 'talk is cheap'...light bulb moment right?!?)  Faith is unappealing, unattractive, dull, and pretty useless unless it is turned from a noun into a verb.  I love today's thought by DeMoss.  It immediately appealed to me when I read it. Faith isn't supposed to just sit on the sidelines of life (or in the pews of a church) and proclaim it is faith.  It is meant to go out and live loudly among the world in which we reside.  Faith is action, not passivity.  Faith has arms and legs, hands and feet, a beating heart, eyes that see, ears that hear, a mouth to speak and sing.  Faith is very active, it isn't a noun but it is a verb. How's your faith?  Is is a noun or a verb?  If it's a noun yo

Don't ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance, and my kindness for weakness.   Unknown Just because I don't speak up the way some do about issues and controversial topics doesn't mean that I am ignorant or lack knowledge.  Just because I stay calm doesn't mean I am accepting.  Just because I am kind doesn't mean I am weak. In fact, I believe my silence indicates wisdom.  There's a time to speak and a time to remain silent, it takes wisdom to know when.  In matters of social injustices if being calm is the behavior then indifference is usually the attitude.  In matters of morality being calm doesn't always indicate acceptance but wisdom.  There's a time to act and a time to not, it takes wisdom to know when.  And I prove my strength of character when I am kind, most especially when I don't want to be. What about you?  How does today's quote describe, or not, you? Make no mistake about me and I'll do my best to m

We talk glibly about forgiving when we have never been injured; when we are injured we know that it is not possible, apart from God's grace, for one human being to forgive another.   Oswald Chambers  It's easy to say to someone, "You just need to forgive" when their situation doesn't affect you personally or you can't relate to it.  But then.  But then when it happens to you all of a sudden it's not so easy to say, "I forgive" or to hear someone tell you "You just need to forgive."  And perhaps all of a sudden you realize that every time you have said it before in a glib manner it probably sounded insincere and without compassion.  As Chambers points out in today's quote it is easy to tell others to forgive when we haven't been been injured.  And then it happens to us.  Because the reality is that it isn't an "if" it's a "when".  We will all be injured in some way in our life that will require forg

Multitasking:   The type A can handle more tasks at the same time than ordinary people . You can easily know that a person is Type A if you found that he is involved in at least five unrelated activities while performing well at them all. Ha!  Okay , it's not so much a quote as a statement but it's my blog so I'm turning it in to a quote for today!  :)   So here's the deal. If there is someone in your life that multitasks well (ahem, moi) plea se don't assume they are doing it for any other reason except that's how they are wired.  They aren't doi ng it to show off or send some kind of message or even consciously!  Seriously I am unaware 99.9% of the time that I am even mu ltitasking.  It is truly second nature to me and to others just like me.   I'm a firm believer that all M om's are multitaskers for at least the part of their life that they are actively ra ising children.  They have to be!  Mom's have to be juggling many things at once wh

Each day comes with 86,400 seconds. Tick Tock So what will you do with the 86,400 seconds given you today?  How can you best use them?  Where and with whom will they be spent?  Make each second count because you won't, you can't, get them back!