Ever have that moment when you realize you’re so out of juice that you can’t seem to work up any inspiration or energy, even for the things you love? These days, I find myself rubbing my head and staring at a blank Word document, then at the hand-written list of potential blog post topics which I keep on hand. Aaaaand … nada. None of it compels me forward. Nothing inspires me enough to put words to paper (except these few words to let you know what’s going on). I’ve blogged for six years now. Besides maintaining my own blog, where I write about church and culture, spiritual Continue Reading
What to do When Parenting Your “Littles” feels really Difficult
The young mother-to-be listened to her friend "Courtney" with growing dismay as she listed a long litany of complaints about the difficulties of parenting. "Get ready for lack of sleep," Courtney warned. "Get ready for temper tantrums. Just wait until they can talk back." Finally, Courtney concluded, "Oh, but I wouldn't trade having kids for anything." The other young woman wondered, Are you sure? Because parenting sounds pretty miserable! If you find yourself experiencing far more stress and hardship than joy in raising children, here's a little secret: It doesn’t have to be Continue Reading
Why There’s Good News even when you don’t “Crush it”
The young woman offering us customer service was pleasant and upbeat. She assured us that our billing issues with her company would be promptly resolved. Image by James Chan from Pixabay When I noticed the following month that our bill continued to climb, I contacted her again. She assured me once again that, of course, she would take care of the problem right away. It's been three months’ worth of attempts now, and the problem still hasn’t been resolved. I noticed something interesting in my interactions with this young woman. Her confident, positive, can-do attitude is typical Continue Reading
One Fun, Doable Way to Teach Kids Faith and Gratitude
A gentle breeze ruffled the surface of the lake as I wandered along the shore line, eyes to the ground. Oh, there’s a good one! I picked up a smooth, round, grey stone and put it in a container. By the time I was done collecting rocks, I had a small bucketful. I’m not a rock hound, nor did I need more stones for the landscaping in our yard. So why was I collecting rocks on a mountain lake shore during our summer vacation? I wanted to work on developing gratitude in my life—and you can use this same method for your whole family. My “gratitude craft” involved the rocks I’d Continue Reading