The Mothership

  I don’t usually fold this laundry. I’m folding it out of love for an overwhelmed teenager. As I’m folding, I’m thinking about how the laundry pieces used to be tiny and the amount I used to fold was mountainous. Thoughts flood of how quickly that season of doing everything for them has passed. How now its even harder to change my survial responses to more of a listening response. While I was in that season of tininess, it took a daily dose of grace to remind myself that the moments are fleeting.  I find a shirt and of course, it is littered with words of empowerment, but most boldly stands the word PERSPECTIVE . As I have parented as of late, I don’t think I’d be winning any awards of compassion or understanding. Infact I hear quite regularly "I don't know...you don't understand." I’ve never done this teenager thing of raising semi-adults while I myself am headed through my own emotional roller coaster. I feel like I could wallow in self-pity for all the times I cou...

“God alone understands the way to wisdom; he knows where it can be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth and sees everything under the heavens…Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it. He set it in place and examined it thoroughly. And this is what he says to all humanity: ‘The fear of the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.” ‭‭Job‬ ‭28‬:‭23‬-‭24‬, ‭27‬-‭28‬ ‭NLT‬‬ We seem to be searching for truths. In some cases we find it and in others we find a masquerade of truths.  In the verses above it’s says “He set it in place and examined it thoroughly.” Why do you think God examined it thoroughly? I would venture to guess, because he knew it would be something very valuable, a marker of true fear of the lord and sought after. Everyone would want it and yet everyone would not have access to it . God would need to make sure it was untouchable, unmoved, and pure. It would need to be something we can’t finagle and change as we see fit.  What is w...

No one feels safe alone in their mind. There is not an ounce of quiet. The hiding seems like the default coping mechanism and in that the false narratives are drawn. Relationships seem farther away, and you’re not even sure if the reach of your fingertips is worth the strength to muster, because what if rejection is the echo back. Plenty of darkness surrounds like the fog of smoke, effortlessly trying to slowly envelop each part of your mind, body, and spirit into a world of worry. What has happened? You’ve known peace, you’ve known contentment, and you’ve been made new. However, the threat of sinking still surrounds.  Until… You look up. And with a slight breath of Yaaahhh-weeeeh, you are filled with peace. You can’t stop with one breath because it’s like you are bobbing at sea just waiting to be taken under. It needs to be a series of perpetual intentional breaths. In those moments is where we have a choice. We have a choice to succumb to the consequences of drowning. Or...

“If your fellow believer sins against you, you must go to that one privately and attempt to resolve the matter. If he responds, your relationship is restored. “Receive this truth: Whatever you forbid on earth will be considered to be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you release on earth will be considered to be released in heaven. Again, I give you an eternal truth: If two of you agree to ask God for something in a symphony of prayer, my heavenly Father will do it for you. For wherever two or three come together in honor of my name, I am right there with them!” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18‬:‭15‬, ‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭TPT‬‬ You walk into your house and you see the couch on fire. You decide, I’ll put that out later and move on because… I need to finish up work or the kids have practice or  you need to get groceries or   you’re replacing the garbage disposal or  fixing the fence, etc.  That scenario sounds crazy, right? This example above is one from Danny Silk, author of...

  A cup of tea sits in waiting for a presence of the intentional time. It sits still as the taker slowly sips and chews, in bubbling ponder, on the meat from the word. The tea cannot be drank too quickly or the taker will be met with startled distraction and not absorbed peace. You see as we sit with the tea we also sit with HIM. In meditation and in worship we sit and listen…sit and say…sit and be. As we do, our vapors of praise rise to the ceiling of the sky, above the smoke and the clouds. They hover there and wait in their purpose of hallelujahs, pleas, and prayers. They hover, still simmering and waiting to rain down on the new vegetation. They become the frost which nourishes the new fruits because of the presence in the waiting.  Are you so filled because of the time you've made to sit and meditate? So filled that in your meditation you’ve made space for the vapors to be released unto the one? In doing so you faithful friend, you’ve poured out His love without ev...

We’ve been going through the book of John as a family. It’s amazing you can read something more than 10 times and new thoughts, new wonderings dwell within the words on the page. In my mind from my elementary days, The Good Shepherd and his sheep is a picture of just that: a man holding a staff, standing as the gate to let the sheep in and call to them. They don’t even question because they KNOW this is good pasture. Can’t you see it on the wall? With the sheep and their curly hair, amongst a field of grass at the mercy of one man, their shepherd. Their lives are in his hands. But as I sat reminiscing of the picture framed on the Sunday school wall, a question wells up inside? “Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and  will find good pastures . The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. ” John Chapter 10:9-11 What does your GOOD pasture look like, Lo...

Everyone has an answer for what lies ahead. The world has abundant answers full of thirty day guarantees . Look in a crystal ball, read your horoscope, let’s align the stars, play your cards right, must be luck… All of those solutions seem lackluster and full of empty promises because they have changed over time.  When I think of a fortune, I think of something holed up, kept in a safe place, locked up, reserved for those special enough to find it on the map. It’s hidden and yet its legacy is revered and handed down for decades, even centuries. Treasure is accessible, but still requires you to submit to the game of waiting and right timing.  We have full access to a fortune, an inheritance that provides a quenching so large, that even the feeling of receiving the finest rubies can’t compare.  The fortune only comes with submission, but is guaranteed with a promise. When we faithfully wait for the inheritance, when we faithfully wait for the answered prayer and ...

”So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.“ ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬ What word has God planted in your heart that has the power to save your soul? A friend of my called me the threader. My family is interconnected through threads. What they pickup from me will determine if they are able to bend and flex or if they will be tight with tension. If my stress and angst is known, then my threads are taut and unable to be flexible. But if I am looking for the peace in all situations, my threads are able to move freely, and yet with intention. Depending on circumstances, my husband or I or even a child help keep the peace. We talk a lot about “keeping the peace” not with the intent to people please. But with the thought of how can we come to each interaction, love the person well, with a lens of boundaries that helps keep the peace in our hearts? Peace is always accessible, ...

“Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; He is my God and I trust him.” Psalm 91:1-2 A new book, a pedicure, going for a run, hiking, or just sitting on your own are all very restful activities that I have enjoyed and are only a glimpse of restful ideas. When I think of rest, I am cuddled onto a porch with a blanket fully relaxed and unencumbered with stress reading a book or just sipping a hot drink, or maybe margarita if it’s evening. We all have unique ways of resting. In order for our minds and bodies to fully rest we have to feel secure. I know when my child is feeling insecure there is angst and distress with little ability to fully calm. When you can’t find peace and rest where do you look? The scripture above suggests that when we take the opportunity to invite Him into our lives we then LIVE in his shelter.  As people walk, you notice the shadow they c...

During our church service on Sunday, we were praying for those that have been awakened at the revival in Kentucky. If you haven't heard about the revival happening on Asbury's College Campus - let this be your notice. It is entirely student led and this revival has certainly begun to brew things. New and old are coming together and focusing on Him. The only fruit of this gathering is peace and a tangible presence. We prayed for the revival to spread with those that came from far away and take with them what they received to deposit in their communities. We prayed that minds and hearts be awakened to the presence of God and that people feel the desire never to leave the presence.  Sometimes while I worship, God will give me pictures like in a movie. I saw a threaded needle standing straight up and down, slow motion spinning, but the thread was running out. Usually the pictures are encouraging in some form. But, a needle running out of thread seems very dramatic and hopeless. ...

Have you ever noticed that when something is missing or lacking or empty, it is the absence of it's presence that you even knew it was supposed to be there in the first place? The absence makes you miss it. When I can't find my scissors because someone took them without asking, it was the fact that they are missing, that I became frustrated they were missing. When a grocery item, like my salt & vinegar chips, are missing from the grocery - for the hundredth time - it is their lack of being there that I even knew I NEEDED them so much. When my son says, "I'm not hungry," but his behavior indicates otherwise, it is the lack of self control that reminds me I forgot to make lunch. When no one says thank you for the ways that you cared for them, it is the absence of the thank you that made you believe you even needed their affirmations in the first place.  It is not until "we can't find..." that we realize we are lacking. Going through life, realizing...

I love new information. I love it even more when it is presented to me in a way that I can clearly understand. Listening to audio books and podcasts are some ways I have found to have knowledge sewn in. My day to day responsibilities can be all consuming but when I listen to these I feel equipped and empowered and productive as I fold laundry/drive. Even with my comprehension dyslexia, my body craves information. Listening gives me an avenue of just enjoying the information and ingesting it without the seriousness of having to take notes as I usually do in a tangible book - fiction or non.  But I stumbled across a podcast by Dr. Aliza named "Raising Good Humans". The content was scientifically explaining how we can grow compassion in yourself and your family (episode 74). She does not speak specifically to the connection of "God creating us this way," but it made think about how HE has made us. God has so intricately designed us, even our stress responses and in our...

I am a planner. I love making lists and I LOVE a good spreadsheet with colors and attributes. I love order. Until I don’t.  The order helps bring the peace. But does it really? I think it helps me compartmentalize my day and my skills of organization are fantastic tools to be utilized. But at some point, even the most organized feel distracted and out of control. While my organizing is a gift from the lord, it can also be a crutch. My need to organize leaves me crooked, in pain and in despair, whilst distracted. My need to organize can sweep out the peace from an otherwise lovely spontaneous moment. It can look overbearing. It can make people feel as if I see them as inferior even though I didn’t come with that intent. My need to be organized can make me not organized. And when I am feeling stuck in the muck I have made, I have a choice:  I can look to where God is leading me or  I can look to where I am leading myself.   More than likely one s...

We have been evaluating our family dynamics from morning routines, to evening routines, and seeing where we may have taken a turn from our initial intent. Tim asked me to read the book 3 Big Questions for a Frantic Family by Patrick Lencioni. I highly recommend this easy to read tool. We are at the beginning stages of putting it into practice. In one of the activations, you are to strategize about your family values. One of my family values would be for my children to know the Bible and understand God in a real, living, way that can imprint their identity and also help guide them to where God can use them in the world.  But who's got time for that?!?! We are all out here trying to do our best. Our family during many months of the year can run ragged and maybe only all sit down to eat together twice a week. The values and focus we want to impress upon our children can get lost in the daily shuffle of “doings” if we are not careful and intentional with our time. I want to prioritize...