How well would you rate yourself as a gifter? I used to be pretty good at it, but through the years as life has squeezed and time has pinched, I’ve not done such a great job in this area. "Last minute" seems to be my modus operandi. Why a post on gift giving? Well, I’m really feeling the crunch with graduations, weddings, baby showers and birthdays all hitting within a couple months of each other. For many years I kept a shelf in my closet filled with gifts I found throughout the year, but too many years have gone by while the shelf sits empty. I’m tired of playing catch-up, always behind, and gift giving is a big area in which I want to be more intentional. But more than all of this, I'm feeling the nudge to move beyond my world and into someone else's. In a world filled with Continue Reading
When We Need A Timeless Love Story
Sometimes we need a timeless love story. The kind that makes us want to stay awhile. Because in the lingering, we find hope and an invitation to believe in something greater than ourselves and our own story. Sometimes we need a timeless love story to remind us that there's more. That there really is a love that remains steadfast and true, no matter what. Sometimes we need a timeless love story to remind us of what pain and loneliness try to make us forget... He never walks away. We are never abandoned. We are always welcomed home. Tough Love... Tender Love... Redeeming Love... Forgiving Love... Relentless Love... Not because of who we are or what we do... But in spite of it~ Enjoy before you leave... And Continue Reading
Sweet Reminders For a Life Lived Well
All of life deserves to be remembered. It's in the remembering that we find meaning and purpose for where we've been and where we're going. Where perspective and courage become companions for the days ahead. Where hope and grace grow through the promise of a better tomorrow. And it's in this promise that we find space for our legacy to thrive, even during the difficult and untimely challenges that threaten to upset our best laid plans for the future. If we can see the promise, then we can continue to move forward. We can dig deep and press through the hardships. We can cling to the hope-filled confirmations along the way and rest assured that our labor will not be in vain. When I wrote my legacy mission statement over 20 years ago, it wasn't something I woke up one day and Continue Reading
Build Your Legacy With Hopefulness Check-Points
Hopefulness is not a given. It’s something that must be nurtured and cultivated, especially in terms of how we live out our life plan and build our legacy. A committment to hopefulness makes all the difference between giving up or pressing on when difficult circumstances become a threat to successfully living out our life plan. Realizing the potential for any plan to get derailed allows us to put measures in place which give us staying power, strength for the long haul and perspective for the difficult times. These measures also create ways for us to keep fear and depression at bay and focus our attention on moving forward instead of getting stuck in the present or the past. Put simply, hopefulness is the anticipation of a greater tomorrow. One of the best ways to Continue Reading