A few months ago, for the first time in my adult life, I planted a garden. I watched YouTube videos and read articles and consulted with friends about how to prepare the soil, when to plant, what to plant, and how to maintain it all. I was PUMPED. I talked to each...
My daughter recently had her braces taken off. After two years of nightly headgear and metal on her mouth, she was finally free. Since she had them put on, she would talk about how much she missed her “freedom”. Yes, the freedom of eating sticky candy, whole apples,...
Have you ever thought to yourself, “If I could just know the future, then everything would be ok.” This kind of magical thinking troubles a lot of us. It’s called anxiety, and thoughts like this carry the potential for a lot of wasted energy. Anxiety is a powerful...
Max’s eyes grew big and his arms flung in the air in frustration as he said, “But Dad, I don’t have any memories there!” You see, my family just made a big move from Jackson, TN to Murfreesboro, and my six year old son was trying to tell me he was scared because he...
“Scarcity is like a pair of glasses we do not know we have on, but they interfere with everything we see.” – Lynn Twist The word scarcity derives its meaning from medieval Latin denoting a sense of diminishment or being reduced. In today’s language, it always...
Perhaps you’ve heard the stories of canaries in coal mines. Miners would take these yellow birds down into the depths of the earth because of their sensitivity to harmful elements – these birds would sound the proverbial alarm that would signal danger to the...
I’ve been helping couples in the context of marriage counseling for about a decade and a half. In that time, I’ve noticed something: the prime number years of relationships are often the hardest (i.e. 1, 3. 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29…) Often, it seems these years...
“When I refer to ‘Creative living,’ I am speaking more broadly. I am talking about a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.” – Liz Gilbert (Big Magic) When you think of the word CREATE do you judge yourself? Maybe thinking about how you aren’t a...
“It seems we have this inborn need to love and to create. At their deepest, these drives of spirit appear to be the same. For through her love, wasn’t Grandma creating me? Don’t we help birth another the instant we encourage them to see with their heart? Don’t we help...
This season I have been counting down every day until Christmas. Knowing that in a few short days all of the hope, longing, and waiting will be over. Done. Then it’s 364 days until the next Christmas. I try every year to hold on to the magic by playing all of the...
Please join us in helping refugees stay warm & keep heart this Christmas. Legacy Mission Village is in need of hats, gloves & coats for their refugees. All sizes accepted (kids and adults). Brand new or gently used condition preferred. Drop them unwrapped in...
The Enneagram was mentioned in grad school, but I never looked much into it. When I started interviewing for positions in Nashville, I had several interviewers talk about how Enneagram being a language for many Nashville clients and had a friend from here recommend I...
I learned about the Enneagram while in graduate school. A professor brought in an “Enneagram specialist” that reviewed the model and processed the myths around what it is and isn’t. From there, reading from various books and articles mixed with bringing it into my own...
I first learned about the Enneagram by going to my church’s small group. One of the leaders was studying and we often discussed it and took the test together. Since then I have read several books, follow several Instagram pages, and enjoy listening to podcasts. I am...
I learned about the Enneagram when I was studying in seminary. Although I had heard of many different personality inventories and tests when studying psychology in college, I had never truly understood its power until graduate school. After taking a great deal of time...
It was a warm summer afternoon, and the sun was streaming through my bedroom window. I woke up from a nap and had this resounding sense of peace. I thought, My life is perfect! My performance has paid off! I have a husband in full-time ministry, a nursing job I love,...
Sweaty and thirsty from my newspaper route, I propped my bike against the front of the building and went inside. The neighborhood grocery was air-conditioned, making it one of the only cool places in town. I selected a grape soda from the pop machine and a Baby Ruth...
I grew up in a family of prestige because my father was a significant figure in our city. We lived on over one hundred acres, raised cattle, and had a pool and a tennis court. My father grew up on a farm outside of town, made it through graduate school, was asked to...
It was a hellish decade. That’s the only way to describe living in a godless marriage, being in deep denial of my own multitude of issues, and watching my husband’s life unravel at the seams from addiction. Oh, and being in denial about that too. I didn’t know...
I was born in the Midwest on my own father’s birthday. He was a physician completing his residency training. My mom was a nurse and the daughter of missionaries. My parents were married during their medical training. Both had dreams of becoming medical missionaries,...
At face value, extreme fear (i.e. Terror) is this overwhelming, draining, malignant dragon. It’s the beast behind not having enough toilet paper, going out in public (or being asked to stay at home when we don’t want to), big social changes, etc, etc. Its terms...
I was bullied growing up. There was something about having red hair and glasses that seemed to make me a target. I didn’t look like the other boys who got the girls’ attention. Oh how I desperately wanted that attention. “What’s wrong with me?” I would ask...
I didn’t want to plant my wildflowers this year. For years I’ve bought a sack of 30,000 wildflower seeds in early February and then guerilla garden them like Johnny Appleseed on any patch of ground needing beauty. This year I bought my seeds around the New Year. I...
Over the years we develop ways to cope with, manage or mitigate stress. A lot of those are even really great things. We may walk, meditate, practice yoga, exercise, talk with a friend, go to recovery meetings, go to therapy, the list goes on. Sadly, not even the best...
Amid all the devastation and panic leveled on our city recently, there is much to grieve. Much has been lost. Many dreams and hopes have vanished. In the natural disaster that shocked our city, some unnatural things happened. People not only lost their homes and...
