Flourishing is Fun
My 15-year old was standing next to the kitchen counter staring at me. He put his hands on my shoulders and shook me a bit, exclaiming, “Mom! I know there’s some fun in there somewhere. Can you please find it?!?” Nailed. He was right. I wasn’t all that into “fun.” At least not recently. When my children were very young, I was intentional about helping them have fun. I believed the best learning environments were filled with delight-directed activity and play. As they got older, there were times I forgot. Fun often felt like a pointless distraction. There were so many important things to be done. One of the wisest…
Fight to Flourish
In her book, The Fight to Flourish, Jennie Lusko talks about this idea: we were designed to flourish. But it doesn’t just happen. We have to fight for the particularly favorable conditions that nourish human flourishing. And it is a fight. A mother of five, Jennie tells the story of her 5-year old daughter’s heavenly homegoing just five days before Christmas. It’s a parent’s worst nightmare. It’s just about the most horrible thing many of us can imagine in this world. Since my own husband’s homegoing just 5 months ago, I – like Jennie – have become more aware of the fight to flourish. Why does it have to be…
Nourish to Flourish
Years ago our family was visiting friends. As we were preparing to leave, my friend gifted me with a plant. While sliding into the backseat of our car, my then-8-year-old proclaimed, “She doesn’t know you very well, does she, mommy?” Even at their young ages, my children knew I wasn’t very good with plants. My husband, however, had a green thumb. That’s an American phrase meaning “good at gardening.” I hope I can keep his roses alive now that he’s moved to heaven. Under his care, the rose gardens didn’t just survive, they thrived. I – on the other hand – have always been especially talented at placing plants in…
Flounder or Flourish?
Imagine a life where you are flourishing. What does it look like? Are you simply surviving, or are you thriving? What is happening in your flourishing world? What is nourishing you? While we’re being honest, I haven’t exactly felt like I’m flourishing lately. In the wake of my husband’s homegoing last fall (he’s in heaven with Jesus now), I’ve felt loss, pain, confusion, and fatigue. A fog has clouded my thoughts and feelings. It feels more like floundering than flourishing. And yet…. I’m learning flourishing is something we can find, even when circumstances don’t seem “particularly favorable.” We can see in scripture that God designed us to flourish. And his…
Advent: Joy in the Darkness
Depression. Anxiety. Crime. Suicide. Darkness. If you’ve watched the news at all during the past 3 years… if you have teenagers…. if your teens have friends…. There’s not a lot of talk about joy. But there’s a whole lot of talk about how hard life is. So how do we talk about joy at Christmas? I’ve recently asked myself that very question. My husband of 36 years this month is gone. He’s never coming back here. I know he’s out of pain. I know he’s in a better place. But where does that leave me? Mental health professionals tell us the holidays are the hardest time of year for many…
Advent: Reminders of Love for All
If you have attended church for any amount of time, you are familiar with John 3:16. It reminds us that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus. Not to condemn us. To save us. From sin, darkness, death, and evil. I find that tremendously reassuring this Christmas season. I especially appreciate this passage in The Message: “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely…
Advent: The Presence of Peace
“How am I supposed to have peace when my life is such a mess?” “….when my child won’t talk to me?” “…when my loved one is gone forever?” “…when the world is so filled with darkness?” These are fair questions. I’ve asked them. You may have too. Or someone close to you has – or is asking them right now. In his Messianic prophecy, Isaiah foretold Jesus would be called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). In their majestic announcement of Jesus’s arrival, the angels proclaimed there would now be “peace on earth” (Luke 2:14). When Jesus was departing this earth, he left his disciples with this encouraging message: “I…
Advent: A Story of Hope
I thought and prayed a long time before deciding to write an Advent series again this Christmas season. You may know my husband David passed from this world to his eternal home on September 21st – just weeks ago. As I write, the grief is still fresh. It’s surreal. I keep thinking he’s going to call asking what’s for dinner…or if we could go to dinner. (We talked a lot about dinner!) At the same time, I’ve been thinking a lot about hope these past several weeks. “And now, dear brothers, I want you to know what happens to a Christian when he dies so that when it happens, you…
