rebelling against low expectations
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2 (KJV, emphasis is my own). As a writer and aspiring author, the analogy that God is the Author of our stories has always resonated with me deeply. When I write, I dedicate hours upon hours of time to my story. Developing the plot, working on the setting, and fleshing out all the little details are necessary to...
When we were younger, my sister would copy various poems and quotes and pin them on a cork board in our room. I remember one quote in particular that read, “love is a choice, not a feeling”. Those words stuck with me and left me wondering if love really could be a choice. At the time I didn’t think so. The love I knew was very emotional and very conditional. It was always, “I love you if__.” In...
My younger brother is successful in almost everything he does. His lawn mowing business as a pre-teen. His filmmaking career as a teenager. Finding an amazing wife, he married when he was 19. His track college scholarship. The guy faces challenges and excels. He’s intelligent, athletic, and charismatic. It’s incredible. I’m proud. But also, sometimes I’m jealous. Everyone wants to hear what...
My child, there is a gift beyond worth. A gift that is given and renewed each day. It’s a gift to mend heart and heal hurt. A gift far deeper than the mere word we say. My child, there is a gift that helps us bare Anything that brings weeping and grief. It’s a gift to bind people and hold off despair, A gift far deeper than the mere word we speak. Like a healing balm and a bonding rope, Causing...
“I feel like a tornado just ripped through our lives. We all survived, but it still caused devastation. There are still piles of wreckage to be dealt with. Still evidence of the tornado’s presence. And it didn’t just cause new pain, it tore the doors off rooms where old pain lay dormant and scattered it everywhere.” I penned these words a few weeks after my momma came home from the hospital. On...
“It’s time.” I swallowed those dreaded words, trying to accept them. Process them. Shifting in a wooden chair across a small metal table from the veterinarian, I nodded, and stroked Darcy’s soft black ear. I’d just spent the last twenty minutes explaining how my sweet Mr. Darcy had rapidly declined in recent days. Kidney disease had stolen his appetite and caused his body to reject what little...
In a 24/7 world, it can be easy to overlook rest. We are constantly encouraged to multitask, consume large amounts of caffeine to maximize our buzz time, and calculate how to manipulate our circadian rhythm so we can give ourselves more hours each day to work. Even we, as Christians, get caught up in the world’s idea that we should always be working, and rest is a burden, not a blessing. But, are...
Some holidays come with baggage. As they approach, dread can build. Such is the case with me when Father’s Day arrives in June. There’s this awkwardness of picking out a card that expresses truthfully how you view your dad. What if he hasn’t been “The World’s Greatest Dad”? How does one even celebrate with a genuine heart that has been hit hard with fatherhood...
As teens, we have a special understanding of what a father is. Most of us live with our fathers or have recently lived with them, so the concept of what a father is and does is still pretty fresh in our minds. While we live under our father’s roof, we experience aspects of him we wouldn’t otherwise. We understand he is there to comfort us, but also to discipline us. He is not only a guide...
Ashamed. Unlovable. Damaged. Have you ever felt this way? Like you’re just too flawed or make too many mistakes to be loved? We all long for love and we look for it in so many different places – parents, friends, and significant others. But somehow, all of those people fall short. They disappoint us and fail us. Their love isn’t always as unconditional as they claim. They never fill our...
rebelling against low expectations
