-
The Shape of Surrender
I love flowers! 💐🪻🌷🌼🌻☺️☺️☺️ Tulips are my husband’s favorite. So when he buys them for me, it’s a quiet win for us both—him offering what he loves, me receiving what I cherish. One bouquet caught my eye as the morning light poured in. The tulips had bent so gracefully toward the window, their stems stretched and their petals opened wide. No forcing. No striving. Just responding to the light. I tried to rotate the vase to help them “straighten up.” I thought they’d realign if I just turned them in a different direction. But they didn’t. They kept their posture, curved as if still remembering the light they were first…
-
Turn the Page
Part of my morning routine is changing the blocks on my desk calendar to reflect the current date. It’s part of a rhythm that helps ground me before the day fully begins. It’s also the beginning of a habit stack that cues me to read a devotional from Unshakeable by Christine Caine. This book is always open and intentionally sits just behind my desk calendar. Most days, I can read the devotional from the left side of the page or the right side of the page, depending on the date. On some days, however, I have to turn the page to read the devotional. Lately, that simple motion has been…
-
GO LIVE!
I wrote this post from my car while sitting in my car, still parked outside the cardiologist’s office. I’d just received the results of a final screening that was part of a cardiac workup and was sitting with the weight of what it all means. Back story… My father passed from hATTR amyloidosis and congestive heart failure. He also had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. My mother had high blood pressure, high cholesterol, renal failure, a heart attack, and triple bypass surgery. She ultimately died from a stroke that took her brain function almost immediately. My brother—my only sibling—died from a heart attack at 44. And, all of this…
-
A Declaration of Peace
I haven’t always walked in peace. There have been times in my life when I’ve walked right on the edge – reactive, overextended, bracing for the next emotional hit. Peace was something I prayed for (kind of) but rarely experienced. It felt like this unreachable state, despite me declaring “Peace is the goal“. Yet, over time – and especially in this season – I’ve learned something: Peace is not passive.Peace is a posture.Peace is power. Recently, I picked back up The Armor of God by Priscilla Shirer – a study I started nine years ago and never finished. This time, it hits differently! I realized that a war had been…
-
What A High School Student Taught Me About Focus
Earlier this week, I was journaling Scripture. I like to write the verses out exactly as they’re presented, and I always draw a little box around the reference. Nothing fancy, just my way of setting it apart. As I focused on getting my lines straight—more intentional than usual—an old memory showed up. One of those soft, unexpected reminders from a season I hadn’t thought about in a while. I used to teach high school math. On some days, I had to draw shapes or graphs that required decent straight lines. I had a Smart Board, so I could cheat a little—tap a button, drag my finger, and the board would…