“I’m Not Stressed!”
“You are very sick. Are you under a lot of stress?” The doctor leaned over my hospital bed, waiting for my reply. I responded, “I don’t think so.” At 28 years old, I had – in six months time – lost my grandmother, with whom I was very close, and my father-in-law, who died in our home. The mother of two toddlers, I was also the caregiver for my mother-in-law through her aortic bypass. I was in graduate school while teaching full time. My husband’s health was failing and we were losing his business. That’s when I was hospitalized. Self-awareness is an essential leadership competency – and I…
Lessons in Rest and Renewal from My Walk by the Lake
I first shared this blog post back in 2019. Life looked a lot different then. The kinds of busy and stressed I felt that year look a lot different – though not necessarily milder – than they do 7 years later. The lessons I learned that day at the lake have clung on during the years, with God gently reminding me to heed their wisdom. I hope they speak to you today, too. I like to see a lot happen in a hurry. I’m wired for productivity. An ordinary walk for me is usually spent multi-tasking – phone calls, podcasts, audiobooks. Today’s walk was different. I was reading…
10 Ways to Make Time for Rest in Less Than 10 Minutes
Want to learn how to make time for rest and rejuvenation like a pro? Whether you need rest when you are recovering from being sick, exhausted, or just looking for a healthier routine, here are ten ways to make time for rest in 10 minutes or less. In my global organization, we know that the spiritual practice of rest and refreshment is key to personal and missional growth. We were created to do our best work out of God-ordained rest. As a leader, I want to always seek to nurture and steward our staff, our strategic volunteers, and our global mission well. That’s why we offer a full-month sabbatical for…
What Story Will They Tell?
Original article published in Outcomes Magazine by the Christian Leadership Alliance. “Our board would like you to come fix our Millennials.” The administrator of a small nonprofit was on the phone explaining that her organization established a “Junior Board of Millennials” as part of their succession plan. The Board of Directors, composed of Baby Boomers and Traditionalists, wanted these Millennials – at the time a group of 20-somethings – “fixed” so they would embrace the organization’s mission and operational strategy Board’s way. The catch: Board members didn’t want to invest their own time or resources in the fix. You can guess what happened. Every invested Millennial volunteer left that organization –…
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…
Worthy: An Advent Devotional
I’ve spent the past 25 years coaching storytellers. I’ve heard them all – family history stories, cultural stories, retellings of fairytales, stories of personal tragedies and celebrations. But it’s the story of Christmas that is the greatest story of all. The story of Christmas is a story of Love coming to live with us. Jesus, Emmanuel, is the source of all Love, born into this world. There is no story more worthy of telling than this. It’s my motivation for empowering extraordinary storytellers…. Because the best story deserves the best telling. In 1885, British writer Christina Georgina Rossetti published a poem called “Christmastide.” It later was adapted into a beautiful…
Wonder: An Advent Devotional
There’s nothing like a toddler at Christmas time. Last Christmas, my then almost-two-year-old grandson came to visit after we had decorated the yard with Christmas lights. It was like someone had plopped him into a true wonderland. As soon as he got out of the car, he ran up the yard to the nearest adorned tree. Tentatively, he reached out his little hand to touch the glowing lights. I could see the awe and wonder reflecting in his big, sparkling eyes. Then, he ran up the yard as fast as his little legs could carry him to touch another tree. Again and again, he bolted from one lit-up tree to…
