I enjoyed soaking up the start of summer with some extra time to spend with my family as well as additional time to relax. I found myself reading more, laughing more, and even sleeping more soundly. In the blink of an eye, the month was over. As I transitioned into July, I thought about a reflection practice that I learned from a favorite author of mine, Emily P. Freeman.
On my “smash the glass days,” the reminder to create “space” seemed to have an opposite effect: instead of the stress escaping, the space seemed to make room for my anxiety with a reminder that “the world is a terrible place.”
Parenting can be so brutal, like a child asserting their independence, harshly declaring “I don’t want to snuggle and read with you.” Or so beautiful, like a child expressing their appreciation through a simple “I love you.” It’s a bittersweet journey.
Similar to the concept that there is always a presence of “both” good and bad in our daily lives, this ever-present dichotomy of good with the bad will always be a part of our country.
Hope has brought renewed opportunities to reflect on and process the past season; to leave the lonely routines of COVID uncertainty and create new rhythms of joy and hope.
As we contemplate the past, and consider our future, let’s not forget to incorporate a little bit of grace for ourselves, our neighbors, and those in leadership positions, we’re all only human after all.
The Advent season, Latin for “coming,” feels especially relevant this year as “waiting” corresponds with the experience that has consumed most of 2020.
Thankfulness that is punctured by sadness can still have a sense of peace and gratitude woven throughout.
As we celebrated moms yesterday, and anticipate celebrating dads next month, I reflected on my own journey of parenting and how my expectations and anticipations have been thrown off course. There is a lot to love about being a parent, and a lot of awesomeness that comes from kids. However, there are sides to parenting …
How are you doing with all of this social distancing? I imagine if I were to ask a random selection of people, the most frequent answer would be, “I’m fine.” Honest answer from me? I saw a meme (created from a comic by KC Green) of a dog sipping a cup of coffee while everything …
the unexpected ever afters 