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Posted: January 29, 2011
The feeling of being barefoot and squishing sand between my toes evokes a giddiness of freedom. If I nudge near the ocean just near enough to get the occasional splash of gorgeous, turquoise sea water, and the sun warming my cheeks; I feel like a child again. Free to frolic, run, laugh and giggle. Being barefoot in the sand unleashes a brazen abandon that I find in no other place. I cannot get this freedom when I wear shoes. It is blatantly unrealistic of me to think that I can frolic in the sand and not expect to get sand in my shoes. Those irritating grains of sand that will find that little crevice and rub away at me until I either take off my shoes or leave the beach. Annoying, hurtful and disappointing! An unrealistic expectation is like an irritating grain of sand-a silent thief that will rob us…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Expectations, False Belief Systems, Finding Truth, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles, Resentment
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Posted: January 21, 2011
I yearn to be radiant. Not the kind where I walk into a room with the perfect outfit, a forced smile and all the right answers; but a radiance that has the effervescent glow of something more powerful, beautiful. I crave a radiance that does not scream my obvious striving, or cover my messiness and grittiness. I am helpless to attain this but I am on journey and quest to find it. Every morning I start by talking to God about my plans for the day and off I go to embrace the day with a smile on my face. Grittiness sets it. I get irritated, people let me down, and I compare and feel insignificant and wonder if I will ever get it right. I’m not the only one; I hear weary sighs and laments from people everywhere. Demands and expectations have clogged our days and we lose sight…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Encouragement, Expectations, False Belief Systems, Finding Truth, Freedom from Busyness, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Fear
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Posted: January 9, 2011
At times we all feel grumpy, resentful, jealous or shameful. There are days when the “grittiness” in our lives can bring us to our knees with feeling overwhelmed with too many obligations, and we wonder if we will ever figure out this complicated, demanding life. Someone needs to point us to a blueprint for choosing rejoicing over regret, freedom over resentment, radiance over shame and finding intimacy in our relationships. We are all on a relentless quest to know we are loved, to have value and to feel pleasure. Most of our choices are made to fulfill those cravings. We will do almost anything to overcome our obstacles just to feel better. We tell ourselves: If I had a better upbringing, I would have achieved greater opportunities and success. If I had more money, life would be easier and I would feel more content. If I put my children into…
Posted in: Uncategorized
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Posted: December 11, 2010
On of our favorite activities is whitewater rafting on the Flathead River, Montana, in June when the water level is high from the snow run off. After slipping on our wet suits and unsightly water shoes, we all grin at each other as we sit and wait for the guides to finish giving us our instructions. “Beware”, they say, “of a sucking, swirling mass of water that churns like a rotary beater. Especially be aware of the eddy called Could be Trouble.” As we start out, I make sure my feet are tucked tightly under the ropes as we all begin to paddle furiously to guide the raft through the boiling water and away from the swirling eddies. Then I see it and my heart starts to palpitate. Black, angry water that is swirling, boiling and the roar is deafening. I know we have encountered the most dangerous of…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Beauty through Boldness, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Fear, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: December 3, 2010
The Christmas Season has many women struggling with a love/hate relationship. The first Christmas carols playing in the shopping mall get their hearts pounding, they break out in a sweat and their minds unravel like an out of control scotch-tape dispenser. The next minute they see a new purse or pair of earrings and they find themselves humming to “Deck the halls…” It’s strange and yet I know. Christmas is filled with tension. Will we have enough money to make it through the season? How will our marriage survive the holidays? There is no way we can fit all these activities into 23 days-absolutely not. I hate wrapping. All these expectations are killing me. I have nothing new to wear. Do we have the family gift exchange-give individual presents and to whom? It’s all too much I can’t handle it. I know that you and I do not want…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Encouragement, Expectations, Freedom from Busyness, Friendship, Hope, Overcoming Struggles, Uncategorized
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Posted: November 19, 2010
Heartbreak seems to come in clusters. When one door is slammed shut, I courageously get over it, get on with life because I know there is something better up ahead. The eternal optimist and believer of good things-that’s me. But when I continually encounter lost dreams, divorce and sickness in the family, an ailing mother, shut down plans and the occasional vertigo; the energy and zest starts to evaporate. I need something powerful to hang on to. This last Labour Day weekend (2010), as I was walking through the vineyards with my son, we encountered the most gorgeous, unusual hidden treasure. Tucked away in one of the rows of grapes was a banquet table; complete with fine china, wine glasses, fresh fruit, gorgeous colored napkins and table runners and beautiful orange shawls thrown over the backs of the chairs. I blinked twice to grasp the enormity of this picturesque…
Posted in: Beauty from the Inside Out, Encouragement, Expectations, Finding Truth, Hope, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: November 6, 2010
I am excited and getting ready for two of our daughters coming home this weekend. Their purpose is to be by my side during my husband’s surgery. But, in spite of all our questions and the “unknowns” of what the Doctors will find on Monday, I am focusing on what I know at this moment; our FAVORITE THINGS. Right now I am in the kitchen baking the famous blueberry lemon muffins that I have been making for the last twenty-five years, cranberry biscotti and butternut squash soup. The kitchen is filled with aromas of nutme, roasting butternut squash and walnuts. The fireplace is throwing off its glorious colors and autumn hued candles are flickering and sharing their pumpkin and apple fragrances. Gentle, inspiring worship music is playing softly in the background and my husband is sitting at the kitchen counter sampling the baking as it comes out of the oven. All I…
Posted in: Beauty Unleashed, Encouragement, Expectations, Friendship, Hope, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: October 30, 2010
“Did it feel like you were being squeezed?” These were the sassy, profound words of my eighty-five year old mother after I shared some intimate details of my unusual, overwhelming struggle. I stopped, gulped and smiled. Yes, that’s exactly how I felt, I thought, and I wonder what makes me feel that way? I pondered over this the next few days looking for discernment and insight into my squeezing. I recognized it in two areas of my life. When I feel overwhelmed with too many demands and don’t have the time to find defining answers and God’s truth. When my life is cluttered with too much “stuff.” Both of these points clutter up my life, my brain, my thoughts and my search for God’s truth and discernment for clarify. I recall Thanksgiving weekend when I needed my favorite potato peeler, but couldn’t find it anywhere….
Posted in: Beauty Unleashed, Encouragement, Finding Truth, Freedom from Busyness, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Struggles
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Posted: October 23, 2010
I was in Paris three years ago when I saw my first pair of skinny jeans. I stopped, blinked twice and thought, “Whoa…how did you squeeze into those?” Of course most Parisian people don’t have an ounce of fat on them, and I must say they looked pretty good. Europe is usually about three years ahead of Canada in fashions but hang on; the skinny jeans have arrived to your home town. The crunch and squeeze is on. The scales are out morning and evening and there’s a lot of squeezing and comparing going on. I had an opportunity to sit in the shopping mall a few days ago while I was waiting for my husband to come out of Chapters. I keenly surveyed the fashion kingdom and let me say up front, some of us should NOT be wearing skinny jeans. Just because it’s the latest and greatest style…
Posted in: Uncategorized
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Posted: October 15, 2010
We live in a daily tension filled reality. Do we believe we have been created for something magnificent and that God has a glorious purpose for our lives, or the reality of seeing our pitiful, fatigued selves in the mirror and feeling the pain of our unsatisfying and sometimes painful circumstances? When we fully believe that we have been called to a specific task, purpose or calling-that we have used our best five strengths and boldly unleashed the gifts God has given us and then all doors are slammed shut. Someone must have been lying. Instead of answered prayers, reconciliation, plans moving forward and open doors, the future says: NO VACANCY, DO NOT DISTURB, CLOSED FOR THE SEASON, OUT OF BUSINESS, NO TRESPASSING. Right now I am dodging the bullets of doubt and hanging on by my fingernails to the reality of my abundant life and God inspired purpose. It’s…
Posted in: Expectations, False Belief Systems, Making Wise Choices, Overcoming Stuggles, Uncategorized
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