Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been tagged as “grace”
Clothes hang on the oversized armchair, the trunk, spilling over the corner of our bed and pooling on the ground in a rainbow of sweaters and basketball shorts. It’s a mess. Our bedroom is a mess. And just the other day I was nagging my oldest about cleaning up his room. Not once. Not twice, but ten times. I was …
You are not broken; you are human You are on a faith journey. This faith is one of fierce love, authentic depth and extravagant grace. Grace for you and grace for myself. Grace for us who carry more than God intended. Grace as we journey the beauty of caring without carrying. Grace to not expect perfection or fix with solutions. …
He’s a whirlwind of creativity. I can tell when he gets that squinty, far-off look in his eyes that an idea is simmering and he must.act.NOW! Out comes the paper… run run run… rummage, rummage for watercolors…run run run… “Mom, where are the brushy things?” It’s like watching a tornado in fast-forward. He literally sweeps up everything in his path, …
This morning one of our children (who will remain nameless) was found with a rare lego that he may have *ahem* stolen from a *public place* because he *needed it.* After all, the lego was *gifted to him* so he said (at least he didn’t shove it up his nose). Help us all. I’m raising a dishonest manchild. Anyone know …
We’ve moved enough in our married life to know that following any big move or transition comes the reality of that newness no longer being, well, new. It’s a whole different ball game doing it with a kindergartener and 2nd grader. The entire 2nd grade put on a “wax museum” where each student dressed the part and verbally shared about …
I’m welcoming Karin, today’s guest contributor, to our cottage to share about grace and faith and all the beauty discovered when those two gifts collide. It was one of those utterly crazy day. Laundry everywhere. Crabby kids. Piles of paperwork. No dinner plan. Normally it wouldn’t bother me much. I’d give myself a little pep talk. Get organized and move …
The very thing I want to do, I often don’t, and what I’m trying not to do, I do. And so enters grace. It’s a season of stillness. Of in-betweens. Call it the calm before the storm or existing in a white noise tunnel but I’m finding there are two options: run as fast as I can to avoid uncomfortable tension …
This is the 3rd of 6 essays in A Faith Journey re-tracing the final week of my Dad’s life. Loss served as the catalyst to my faith, and it is through this story, I see God’s invitation to experience Him as the greatest story. For those that have walked this with me from the beginning, please read and remember and know that God …
Let’s just say it like it is, talking about death is awkward.
Like super uncomfortable, weird, awkward.
What should I say? Do they want to talk about it? Do they not want to talk about it? Ahhh.
We long to validate one’s loss and ask how they are, while simultaneously trying to avoid making the elephant in the room the only topic. It’s a debacle; one that’s hard to navigate. There are no perfect words, only pure intentions. So, to save yourself from making a bigger deal out of an already big deal, for the love, here are phrases and actions that help soothe a very raw wound, as well as cliche’s to ahem, avoid.
Smack in the middle of January in Southern California and I’m cross-legged in the backyard. It’s 80+ degrees and the sun is warming my back as fingers fly on the keyboard and the youngest naps.
I could pinch myself.
The sky is the electric blue and far off I hear a lawn being mowed. A yellow bud catches my eye and I wonder when she’ll smile for us, radiant petals lifting their gazes heavenward. Empty bowl by my knee, chipped and worn- almost ten years it’s moved from apartment to townhome to cottage, settling into different cupboards and feeding hundreds of mouths holding soup, ice cream, and parfait snacks.