DESOLATION she tries to ignore it, but the desolation demands attention. it won’t let her wander outside its constrictive boundaries; to simply be. it taunts her, saying, “you’ve failed in so many ways”, “do you know how often you’ve screwed up?”, “listen to me tell you about your weaknesses, your shortcomings, your pain”, “let me […]
Category Archives: Peace Full Home
CANDLELIGHT I light the candles as dusk envelopes the space. I don’t like the dark. I see things in the shadows that I don’t see in the light. I hear things that are silenced in the day. I’m afraid of the dark. Fear can freeze us in place; it can bring us to our knees […]
It’s widely held that Valentine’s Day honors a third-century, Roman priest named (you guessed it) Valentine. According to one account, he performed secret weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry. Another narrative asserts that an imprisoned Saint Valentine sent a letter to the woman he loved, signed “from your Valentine.” Either way, the lore surrounding […]
What if you fill your cup of life? Not overfill it with boring or uninspiring activities or meaningless possessions. (Do you ever fill your life with tangible stuff to drown out the lack of real stuff?) Not overload it with placeholders that scream “my cup’s full!”. But, rather, fill it to the brim with the wholeness of […]
The first “drive-thru” was at a St. Louis bank in 1930, and since that time we do a lot more than make deposits without ever leaving our cars. We can “drive-thru” to buy postage, meals, and coffee; to drop off books, dry cleaning, and movies; to get a flu shot or, even, to get married. […]
Core Beliefs reflect the essence of self—what we consider absolute truths about ourselves, others and the world. (They’re very different from “on the surface” thoughts that change depending on what’s going on in your life.) Life/World Core Beliefs sound like: the world is a dangerous place (-) honesty is always best (+) people are fundamentally self-serving […]
I’ve mentioned vestibular neuritis before, but what’s interesting is that as I live with this condition, that isn’t life-threatening but is lifestyle-threatening, I think about how blessed I am to have this as my most serious physical disadvantage. Vestibular Neuritis Information about motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation is provided by the vestibular system which detects gravity […]
This isn’t a “happy” story about lasagna, green sweaters or cloth napkins. It’s a story about humanness and brokenness. I’m not talking about broken hearts but, rather, broken spirits— when you know you have worth, but can’t count it, when it feels like life has been sucked out of you, when you’ve lost, given up, or […]
Do you ever wonder what you could do to bring more peace and joy into your home and world? Do you have lists (in your head, on your phone, on little scraps of paper) of what you’d like to change? I watch the ripples change their size but never leave the stream… and so the […]
“Peaceful” doesn’t just happen—not with relationships, careers and definitely not with homes. There are people who always seem frantic and stressed (and I’ve been there more often than I like to admit) and I know people who seem to actually “float” through life buoyed by an endless stream of good luck (hmmmm….maybe it’s them, right?). […]
In January, many of us evaluate the past year and make resolutions—resolving to find a different way of living; to do something like lose weight, eat healthier or get organized (love this one), or not do something like smoke, overspend or procrastinate. We forget, however, that each day is an opportunity to begin anew—a chance to begin to create different realities. I’m […]
Like every year, the week before Christmas was a whirlwind of activity. Before the 25th, there were presents to still be wrapped (not part of my typical reality since I like having things done ahead of time), groceries to be bought, a table for sixteen to be set, music selections to be chosen (yep, just a […]
imminent—forthcoming, impending behavior—the manner of conducting ourselves Imminent Behavior—how you’re going to respond, in the time immediately in front of you. It’s different from future thinking that sounds like: “Next year (month, week) I’m going to do things like: be kinder (find God, give back)”, or “When I have the right job (relationship, home) then, I’ll become happy”. In […]
As I sat drinking a tea, from a cup I gave my Mom before she died, I thought about my twist on “Twas The Night Before Christmas” from a few years ago. May the end of this calendar year bring you peace, blessings and joy. Kay ‘Twas the day after Christmas and all through the place, […]
Have you ever set your sight on a very specific destination—a job, a relationship, a lifestyle, an adventure—and never arrived there at all, or got there in an obscure, circuitous way? • How did that make you feel? In your attempt to reach that destination were there times when you found yourself “off the beaten path” […]
This post was originally published in 2014. I had it on my calendar to post again today (8 days before Christmas 2018) and coincidentally (or not, since things like this happen all the time), it was the topic at church yesterday. It’s eight days before Christmas! Emails regarding last-minute presents flood our inboxes. Anyone we’ve […]
I’ve never played the game “Truth or Dare”, and it’s not something I’d ever want to do. I’ve heard too many horror stories of young people (and, sometimes not-so-young people) divulging information that should have been theirs alone, or performing a “dare” that was dangerous, humiliating or out of their comfort zone. (It’s sad what […]
I’ve been unpacking boxes of Christmas ornaments. In the boxes, there are the little drummer boys that Sara and Erin made with their grandmother thirty years ago, fragile glass ornaments and precious works of art that say, “best Nana ever”. There are gifts from friends and special pieces Mom gave me. Some are many decades […]
This is the annual retelling of the ninth post I wrote in 2013. It still brings me to tears and reminds me of how incredibly blessed I am. Stories about Christmas abound. Some of those stories are filled with the sadness of missing a loved one. Others retell a time when we were far from home, […]
I can be like a hoarder—indiscriminate about what I’m adding to my already full life. Sometimes, I invite hurt and sorrow to take up permanent residence in my heart because I’m unwilling to let them go. Sometimes, the pain hanging in the air is so heavy that it seems I should be able to grab […]
the crowd gathered around her. the world was silent; pregnant with anticipation as fellow humans waited for her to speak, but there was no sound, just the stillness, the nothingness; the nothingness that was ripe with possibility too unimaginable to be spoken; too sacred to be believed. it was as if there was a collective breathing, […]
Last year, I had the opportunity to visit Prague in the Czech Republic with my friend, Jill. The travel conditions were perfect: the weather would be cooperative, the dollar was strong, we had separate rooms to retreat to for quiet and we would be traveling with a group of people—affording us the guarantee of same-language speaking […]
Four years ago, when our granddaughter Lauren was nine, we were driving to a soccer tournament when she asked, from the backseat, if we wanted to use her “future telling app”. Of course, we said yes. After all, who can resist a future telling app? Lauren proceeded to ask for dates in the future. We […]
Each day as I get out of bed I say, “Thank You God”. In my more aware moments, I tack on some of the other easy “thank yous”: a new day, my health, my family, etcetera. Those aren’t insincere—it’s just that they’re so darned easy to name. Sitting in my quiet (in spite of the rambunctious […]
The topic of the last three posts—a different kind of abundance—tackles the, often tough, issue of how we experience a fullness of life that’s not tied to an abundance of physical “stuff”. 11/2 part 1– initial questions, why we have so much stuff 11/3 part 2– guidelines for owning possessions, how to define clutter, the […]
