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Showing posts from 2018

Goodbyes

Less than 4 weeks. 28 days. 4 more Sundays. The countdown has begun to another goodbye. That's nothing in the grand scheme of this wispy life we live. It's heartbreaking. I want to dig my heals into the rough dirt in front of the first home that we've ever owned and say, "No thanks. It's just too hard." I had a dear friend many years ago tell me that she wished she could scoop all those she has held dear over the years, take them to an island (preferably without bugs) and live together. I love that. She knows all too well the toll goodbyes take on our very human hearts and has had to say it more times that even we have. I wish I could say that moving often helps me treasure each moment, but just like you I get caught up in the todays and forget. 3 years always seems like a long time. Always. So when I pick up a Chatbook thrown askew across the room, I stopped just a moment to take a look. Tears fell.  Look at that boy who was just a silly 3 year old and no

Just a Little Taste of Home

Dear West Texas, You are flat. Like see 2 miles down the road flat. You are full of dust and dirt. You give new meaning to the word windy. Tumbleweeds are for real.  You stink. Literally.  You often either smell of feed lot or oil fields. Oh and,  Could you please make up your mind about the weather?  One day you are hotter than you know where, and the next I'm shoveling out our suburban from under 8 ft. of wind blown snow. You aren't much to look at, really. Yes, I said it aloud.  Or wrote it, rather.  You’re pretty ugly.  Except for those sunsets. Yes, those are the best. And still, in your hands you hold my most favorite childhood memories. Of summers gone by too quickly. Of cousin shenanigans... painting the "H" house, four wheeler rides, climbing into the forbidden cotton bins, and "running away." You are a treasure trove of memories for me.  And now, my kiddos as well. 

A Life Remembered: Loving Well

Many times I don't post what I write. So many times. And this is good because sometimes my writing, at least to me, can feel like venting. And who, in this world needs one more person venting on them? It happens all the time, with many a scroll or click, I feel the weight of someone else's anger. Usually, it does nothing to help any given situation. Usually, it's all misunderstood and thus only pushes us farther apart. Only further and further apart. After the shootings in Florida and some scrolling of my own via Facebook. I was ready to write. And so I did. But I didn't post. Y'all don't need me venting on you. My intention is to always encourage, even if it is through some tough words of truth. Venting isn't encouraging. It isn't uplifting. It isn't kind. It reeks of frustration, snark and anger. It doesn't build up or seek the good of others.  There is a fine line between lamenting (which is good and right) and venting. Often times when the

I Wish Social Media Would Somehow Disappear.

A dear friend recently said to me, "I wish social media would somehow disappear." Honestly, I tend to agree. Except it's not. So I have to learn to meander my way through it in a way that is honoring to the Lord. This, friends, is hard. And here is why... 1) It's fake. You are seeing (depending on how much a person posts) maybe 10% of a person's life. So many people don't know how to be authentic. I had to quit following a gal who has chosen to move into a not-so desirable part of town to minister to people. I admire this. I really do and I actually really like her as a person. On more than one occasion she has said that she doesn't show the really hard parts because that would further the stereotypes that already exist about the poor. While, I agree, some people, sadly, would use that as an excuse to further marginalize others, but it also does not paint a complete picture of just how hard it is to live where she lives. As authentic as she wants it to b

Plan B

I'm sitting here at my desk facing yet another New Year, thinking what in the world happened to the last one. And honestly, I'm staring at the screen like I have nothing to say except all of what I want to say is complicated and would take up the hundred or so pages of a book that I don't have time to write. It's been a long while since writing last, I know but I just keep thinking, it can't possibly be that this wispy life has wisped past me once more. It can't be possible that in the middle of all of the chaos that is my life, somehow, another year blew by me. Another year. Made up by small moments. Some beautiful, others heartbreaking and still some very much both. It has been a year full of pain, hurt, fear, wonder, excitement, and celebration. Like yours, very probably, this 2017 has been a mixed bag. A New Year is like a clean slate, freshly fallen snow, a cleaned out closet. It's exciting. Kind of like the beginnings of a new relationship. We feel