Something Beautiful

I try not to write about politics. More than almost anything else, politics seem to drive people apart and cause division and hurt. It doesn't have to be this way as this article explains , but that is the way it has become throughout my lifetime. And the older I get, the more it makes my heart ache.  The current election, in particular, drains my soul. My soul longs for people to live together in harmony and love (yes, I realize this sounds a little hippie-ish, please bear with me). What has been tearing my heart up over the last few months is the basic lack of respect for other people. As I have grown close to the Lord over the course of my life, I have come to know His heart for me: I am His beloved daughter.  This has been a beautiful revelation simply because of the larger revelation that it brought: every single person (regardless of whether they acknowledge God or not) is a beloved son or daughter of God. Every single person - past, present, and future - is ...

When people find out I have lost over 50 pounds, the initial exclamation is that there's no way I could have been that heavy . T he next question is always: "How did you do it?"  I have been hesitant to write a post about this because I don't think that there is a formula for how to lose weight , and I don't want my journey to become a formula. However, as I was talking to my sister-in-law the other evening, I realized that I do have something to say on the subject that I think needs to be heard.  My journey, while it was initially about losing weight, became so much more. As a sophomore in college, I got on a scale and I forgot what the third number was because the first two were 1-7. I think it was either a 3 or a 5. I determined that I had to lose weight. I tried a low carb - high protein diet. After about a month, I actually gained weight instead of losing it and gav e up . The last word I would ever u se to de scribe my body was beautiful. I was ...

I watched this sermon on communion the other day . S hortly thereafter I had a conversation about communion with a friend, and I realized that while we practice the sacrament of communion, we often don't take time to understand it or to think about what it really means.  We lose a lot of the meaning of communion because we don't take it as it was intended to be taken, in the context of a meal. When Jesus instituted communion, it was during the feast of Passover. We relegate communion to a tiny cup of grape juice and a little wafer when it was intended to be part of a feast. Why does it matter? It matters because we can get the idea that God is stingy when really He is lavish and generous and giving.  It also matters because of the venue. Jesus gathered His disciples around a table. As a child my family always ate together. We didn't have the distractions of tv and cell phones at our meals. We just spent time in fellowship with each other. We talked about the day. We at...

Here at last we come to the end of this journey, and yet like all endings, this is really just a beginning. A journey is good for itself and doubly good because at the end of it you find yourself at home again. My life has been richer the last month because I carved out time to be intentional about enjoying my life.  My aim has not been to find a silver lining or attempt to find the good in every situation. Rather my aim has been to consciously choose to savor every situation whether it is good or bad. My desire has been to listen to my life and enjoy my life, holding things with open hands. My longing in all of this has been to be still in my life and truly live. I have done this and continue to do this imperfectly, but the point is not that I savor my life perfectly, but that I perfectly savor my life. I am a long way from having how we should live figured out, but I know that it should be abundant.  So here on the eve of All Saints Day, my benediction for you is tha...

Today, as I chop onions for chili and wash loads of laundry and bake cornbread and fill a bowl with candy for little trick-or-treat-ers, I embrace what is in this moment.  This moment is full of what has been. This moment is full of what is yet to be. This moment is full of the past, present, and future as one slips away, one is, and one is yet to be.  This moment is in itself an ending and a beginning. So as I dry laundry and match socks and read words, I hold this moment with open hands accepting what is here. *To read all the posts in this write 31 days series, click on the #write31days label at the bottom of this post. 

Today I am rejoicing. My sweet, beautiful niece is one today! What an incredible gift God has blessed us with! And what a soothing balm that He sent her to us as He took away another dear one. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord! *To read all the posts in this write 31 days series, click on the #write31days label at the bottom of this post. 

A year ago, I spent the evening in an ICU room at the hospital. My grandpa was dying. The odd thing is that I had been planning to go visit him at the hospital that day after I got off work. I went home, went for a run, and had been planning to go visit him. My parents had left that morning after visiting my grandpa to go to Minnesota for the birth of my niece, and they had said that he looked good.  When I got in from my run, I had a missed call from my mom, and she told me that if I wanted to say goodbye to Grandpa I needed to go to the hospital right away. After I cried and cried, I drove the 45 minutes to the hospital as I cried some more.  Once at the hospital I saw my grandpa. Except it wasn't my grandpa. My grandpa was a strong, healthy, vibrant man. Not this weak, helpless man who couldn't breathe on his own. He didn't even recognize me. He just said: "I want to go home." And all I could say as I started crying yet again was, "You are going ho...

When on Tuesday your week has already gotten the better of you and your work and wedding planning are stressing you, oh, and your team is playing game 1 of the World Series, having a fiance who sends you flowers at work is just the best. He is a keeper!! I'm not really sure how I got so blessed, but I thank God for him every day.  *To read all the posts in this write 31 days series, click on the #write31days label at the bottom of this post. 

Last night my love and I booked a special trip in January. Just the two of us. Sun, sand, sea. I wish that it could be tomorrow. He wishes it could be tomorrow. But I know that if we were to just fast forward I would miss so many beautiful moments between now and then.  A savored life appreciates this moment, this day. It says that this moment matters and is valuable even if all that fills this moment is the mundane and ordinary. It says that this moment matters because if I look for it eternity is hiding in this moment.  So while I look forward to our warm vacation in the middle of the winter, I will look for eternity in the moments between now and then.  *To read all the posts in this write 31 days series, click on the #write31days label at the end of this post. 

We took a detour this afternoon looking for a cemetery. We did find a cemetery for pets. It wasn't the one we were looking for. We didn't find the one we were looking for. As we were getting ready to leave, I looked over at some trees and the way the sunlight caught the yellow leaves in the wind they looked like a thousand yellow birds. I was caught in the beauty of the moment. I can see them even now in my mind: yellow leaves fluttering in the sunlight, dancing against the blue of the sky. It was a sweet gift to my tired spirit on this Sunday afternoon. It brought me rest on this Sabbath day.