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...
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...
What does it mean to live life on life’s terms? It is to say, “OK, Life, I see you. I don’t really like what you are saying or doing, but I am choosing not to ignore you. I am going to take you at face value and just do the next right thing.” It means to take each day...
My 8-year-old son is very disappointed that his Annual Easter Egg Hunt had to be canceled this year. And rightfully so. He’s grieving the loss of one of his favorite traditions. For the past few years, he has delighted in sending out invitations, filling the plastic...
In light of so much going on in the world that (rightfully) brings up fear, I believe it is important and helpful to remember how we were made. First, we were made to feel. Your fear is normal. It actually brings about clarity around things that can seem murky or...
My fellow human beings, there is no doubt that we are in the midst of hard times. The recent tornado that tore through parts of Nashville, the political divide that continues to separate our country, and now, the ramifications of Covid-19 on our day-to-day lives are...
Some days you will feel like the ocean. Some days you will feel like you are drowning in it. – Lora Mathis Aren’t there moments when this is absolutely true — we feel like the ocean! Powerful. Strong. Unstoppable. Floating easily with contentment and joy,...
You and I are created as emotional and spiritual creatures, created to live fully. We find life to the full through emotional and spiritual relationship with ourselves, others, and God. We cannot find full life otherwise. We are predesigned to find fulfillment in...
The ever-present temptation towards apathy or resignation is the reason hope is so daring and risky. Hope awakens us to wonder, dreams, possibilities, courage and belief. These forms of imagining will always be slightly or greatly painful once we actually face that we...
My father died December 18, 2010. The song O Holy Night was sung at his funeral. It was beautiful and fitting. It celebrates a light in the darkness, a rescue for a people in need, and the conquering of death in a world where we still must physically die. It tells us...
I want to share something about Christmas. Before I do, however, I want to state that I have seen enough, experienced enough, learned enough, and have lived long enough to disbelieve what I say below if I were ever going to do so. But I cannot not believe it. It is in...
The heart is the center of one’s being. Out of the heart we feel, need, desire, long, and hope. The heart is comprised of these core areas or roots. They allow us and push us to grow and connect, crave life and imagine, grieve and celebrate, attach and love. The heart...
I It seems paradoxical, but admission of powerlessness can access great gifts. In a movie called Gladiator, Russell Crowe stars as a general named Maximus who is attempting to overthrow the grotesque abusiveness that had possessed Rome. He asks an old, cynical...
Calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK have increased 25% since the recent deaths of two very notable people. The highly publicized deaths have shaken people with shock, fear, and awareness. The increases in calls are from friends of...
Everyone has dreams, the pictures of possibilities that aren’t yet realized. Dreams call us to look up from the ground toward the horizon, or even toward the stars. They offer images of possibilities that make life better. They are far away, and require steps of...
In English when we tell someone, “goodbye,” it can mean much or almost nothing. If we are referring to something final with our goodbye, we have to use more words to communicate finality, or more words to wish great things for the other’s good as we depart. Or goodbye...
As an external description, maturity is the process of reaching full natural growth or development, or something having reached the limit of its time. As an internal description, maturity is the capability of living fully life on life’s terms, emotionally and...
We are born with six freedoms: I have the freedom to see what I see. I have the freedom to feel what I feel. I have the freedom to need what I need. I have the freedom to talk about my heart’s experience. I have the freedom to trust my heart with others. I have the...
A long time friend of mine who is a copyright attorney and agent that has been representing music artists for three decades explained to me years ago “how things really work.” He was kind of giving me the facts of life talk about creativity and the industry. He said,...
The heart of the human being often becomes a rejected treasure that children begin to hide when they do not experience themselves as pursued and affirmed. This common experience is a great sadness. When the heart is experienced as the enemy of the child, then God,...
