This Advent, I’ve been reflective and grateful. Although I’ve had a few disruptions and disappointments in recent days, I still have joy.

Podcasts Over Books in 2021

I love to read. But this year, I spent more time listening to podcasts than reading books. This is how I fill time during my commute to work.

Listening to a podcast is like listening to a good story – and I love a good story.

I this blog post, I share with you my favorite podcasts of 2021

Waiting with expectation can be exciting - but also it can make you crazy.

I love Christmas! Specifically, I enjoy the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. In the Christian tradition, this is called Advent.

Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year – the church year. Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of the Christ child. This is a major event for those of us who practice Christianity.

A challenge I hear often is, “Go out and be kind on purpose.” My husband says this phrase when closing his Monday morning Facebook Live prayer time.

It’s a wonderful reminder to start the week. Yet, in being kind to others, we forget to be kind to ourselves.

This year was the 20th anniversary of the tragic incidents involving four planes used to attack America on September 11, 2001. As I love history, I watched many documentaries highlighting first-hand accounts from survivors.

On this anniversary, I paused to try to remember and attempt to imagine the pain and loss survivors felt that day and the impact on their lives today. To remember was the least I could do.

Have you ever considered what happens when we decide to give thanks to God when we are going through a hard time? Have you ever been aware of what happens when we find something to be thankful for?

My awareness came during sixteen months of darkness.

It began in May of 2016 with my Dad’s diagnosis of stage 4 cancer.

One early Monday morning, I proclaimed to my husband, “Today will be a great day.” He asked, “Why?” and I told him I decided it would be.

Later when I arrived home at the end of the day, I asked my husband,” Was today a good day?” He paused like he was thinking and said, “You know what? Yes, it was.”

In the late 1930’s-1940’s, a young boy was raised by his maternal grandparents in a rural town.

When he was born, the boy’s parents split, moved to separate cities, and started new lives without their son for reasons unknown. The boy was left to be raised alongside his uncles like their brother.

Life was tough. His grandfather was strict, and he had to work in the field tending tobacco and possibly other crops. He went to school, may have gotten in a bit of trouble, but nothing too serious.

If a season could be a gateway drug, fall would be mine. The main event is Christmas. I love the smells, sounds and emotions that come with that holiday. But Christmas time seems so short.

Fall gives me time to savor many things I love.

When people tell us what they want to accomplish, we tend to offer advice on what they need to do to get it. We often hear the phrase, “easier said than done.”

I like quiet spaces. There. I said it. I savor quiet time alone. It is WONDERFUL!

Author and talk show host, Iyanla Vanzant wrote a book in 1999 entitled, In the Meantime. Readers of this book were likely anxious to get to the next phase of their lives. This book leads the reader through exercises that challenge the reader to reflect and do self-work before hastily moving to their next season. This block of time is referred to as, the meantime

I took a bite of a rib that had been smoked many hours and slathered it with a hickory flavored hot sauce. The rib came from a batch of ribs, chicken, and burgers my brother-in-law was grilling for my husband’s “First Day of Spring” barbeque

Who among us has had a relationship with their mother that is unique? Good or bad? Strained or easy? Deep or shallow? Many stories and movies seek to explain this relationship that many times is hard to articulate and understand.

Have you ever been in a situation where you didn’t know someone saw something and once you saw what they saw, you were like, “OH MY GOD!”

OR

Was there ever a time there was something you hated about yourself and you always tried to cover it up? Yet the more you tried to cover it, the more eyes were drawn to it?