Month: February 2021

Today I changed a picture on my blog. The picture that comes up when I post has been the same for a while. It is always a challenge to know what image you want to lead, as I want it to reflect a current message of where I am at in this season of my life.

The birds will sing in the morning has been my theme since my Dad passed away in May of 2018. These words have been repeated often when we need to be reminded of the promises of God. These words are words that remind us of what my Dad believed, that even in hard times, when our hearts may be broken, God will continue his work in us and through us. God’s unique creation speaks to us, and in it, we are promised that His greater plan will be carried out.

This is the note that explains how these words came to be in our family. They are honest and hopeful. They acknowledge the deep pain and the never-ending promises

And I leave you with the beautiful image that is engraved on the stone at the cemetery. I wonder what meaning these words have for you today. Hearing the birds invites me to look upward, marvel at the beauty and the song, and remember that in the music of the birds, there is hope and promise!

I have been thinking a lot about this lately. 

Words of affirmation are any spoken or written words that confirm support, uplift, and positively empathize with others.

I know that words of affirmation are known as a love language. I do believe in the power of love languages. I also think we have to acknowledge that words of affirmation and appreciation are imperative to all people, no matter what your love language is. 

This blog tonight carries a simple message and invitation:

Name 2 to 5 people each week that you will intentionally speak words of affirmation or appreciation. They might be people close to you or maybe someone who crosses your path regularly. (mailman, janitor, neighbor) I have been resistant to my heart’s desire to thank the DTE guys working on our street for the last many weeks. I think I will stop and thank them this week for their hard work. You might choose to speak words, send a card, make a meal or be creative in some other way. If you were intentional each day with appreciating one person, you would encourage 30 to 31 people a month. 

Be aware of how you feel in the sharing and how the recipient is at receiving. Often when we attempt to affirm someone, they dismiss or downplay the gift you are offering them. Stand with gentle persistence and say, I want you to hear my words of appreciation for you. Are you a good receiver of affirming words? Are you able to say “Thank you” and allow the gift offered to rest in your being?

Challenge yourself to appreciate or affirm someone you find more challenging to spend time with. Consider people from your past who have impacted your life in ways they may not be aware of.

I know there are many significant hardships in our daily lives right now. Words of affirmation and appreciation will not resolve all of them. Still, perhaps you can bring some hope and confidence in merely being intentional and generous with your words this week.

Here is a little cheat sheet chart if you need some words to spice up your affirmations!

 

I wonder if you have ever read this piece by LR Knost?
It is a piece that resonates with my soul.
There is just something about amazing, awful, mundane, and routine. There is just something about how this all flows through each living and honest person.

There is something so honest about the heartbreaking, soul-healing, amazing, and awful ordinary life.

I am grateful to share this journey with each of you in some small way.
May grace and gratitude be yours in abundance every step of the way!

Blessed be His name,

Trish

I find it fascinating how warm 37 degrees feels during winter. The sun is out, the icicles are melting, and there are dangers of the black ice in the early morning and later evening.

Even my five-month-old puppy seems to sense the hope of Spring as grass peeked out from the snow piles along the sidewalk. Willa’s curiosity about green grass, mud, and mud puddles caused me to wonder if even our pets anticipate the change of season.

As I was driving today, I glanced upward, and my extra-large glass roof in my car was spattered with bird droppings. I caught my groan before it was fully expressed and thought, just another sign of spring.

I received a text recently that my friend and landscaper were ordering flowers for spring porch pots, and I felt my heart rise with hope.

Yes, it seems as if we are getting a taste of spring, as I saw two Robins this morning as well. It feels hopeful, and the reality quickly sobers me that March has a way of tormenting us with the taste of spring but can be slow on the delivery.

I will not yet hold my breath, but I will not give up hope. For of this, I am confident, Spring is coming, and in that, I find anticipation and delight!

I have the privilege of working with aging individuals in my work at Visiting Angels. There are attributes to aging that I admire more all the time. Life is not simple, and aging can bring a new set of realities to everyday routines.

There are a few people who have modeled aging to me for whom I have great respect. My Dad and Mom are two of those, and the third would be Uncle Bob. There are others who I admire, and there just may a blog or two more about those who age well and continue to embrace God’s call in their lives.

Uncle Bob is 87 today. Life has not always been easy, and he can tell you stories of uncertain times in his life. But even when he shares those, there is a perspective he brings to the table about lessons learned or how he grew in the process. Uncle Bob is a storyteller and always has a joke or a perspective that makes you smile or laugh out loud.

Uncle Bob is a man who is committed to learning.

He is a student of scripture and spends time with other men of faith in the Word weekly.

He is a student of technology and has learned so much about email, online classes, live streaming worship, and games on the Ipad. He has acclimated to a smartphone and can answer his phone through his hearing aids. He doesn’t say I don’t know how, he says I will learn how.

He is a student of creative work in his carving. He loves to learn new techniques in carving and will practice until he has a completed project.

Uncle Bob is a lover of people and community:

He loves his Church community, the carvers and car club community, his Buist community (where he is a faithful volunteer), his family community (where immediate and inlaws are all embraced equally! Uncle Bob is faithful in his relationships.

Uncle Bob is a man with a grateful heart. He gives God the glory for all his blessings. He has a hospitable spirit and regularly prepares a meal and sets the table for a shared meal.

I hope you have an Uncle Bob in your life. I only knew him to be alongside Aunt Anita. Now that it has been almost six years since she passed away, I have grown in my deep love and appreciation for him in a new way. When he lost his bride, after caring for her so faithfully through her cancer journey, he could have hunkered down and lost zest for living, but Uncle Bob is committed to living life fully in action and attitudes, until his last breath.

I have bolded the words that represent some of who he is and who I hope to be. We don’t have to wait till 87 to be like Uncle Bob, but my hope and prayer is that I will remain like him when I am 87 and dealing with the complications of life and aging.

Happy Birthday! I love you, Uncle Bob. You have my whole heart. I am glad you live well, enjoy learning, share generously, and profoundly believe that life is a gift until Jesus calls you home!

Blessed be His Name!

This is so worth the watch….

It is about perspective and gratitude…

Be a blessing today in your eyes, smile, touch and presence.

Make it a good day!

https://vimeo.com/44131171”

Blessed be His Name,

Trish

Tonight on the National News, there was a clip on the protests of this past summer. By a feeling in my body, I remember how I prayed we would not let this movement for racial equality be one that fades away. I fear in so many ways that have happened yet again.

Several essential discussions are unfolding in the circles around me.
There is the one of racial equality and addressing white privilege.

There is the conversation of gender identity and inclusion. The questions that surround that both in our culture and our Faith feel critical to me.

There are discussions of political division, and how do we as a nation unite when the chasm feels so great?

There is hunger, abortion, poverty, and so many more areas of critical discussion.

Over the last year, I have learned that good people stand on both sides of an issue. However, I do not believe we can land there and call it good enough any longer.  Somehow we have to venture out of our comfort zones to explore new space, perhaps conversations not yet had, to discover common ground not yet claimed.

Do we dare hope that there might be a way to venture into new spaces that heal our conflicts and discriminatory practices?

I have never been a fan of saying you should or you must. I believe the healthiest movement will unfold when we invite others to consider something fresh. We must stand together in uncomfortable spaces agreeing to consider something different from what we have clung to in the past.

It seems pretty clear to me that the people of Faith and maturity should lead this movement.

It is pretty discouraging to my heart to see how those mature people of Faith are often fueling the fire.

Lord, forgive us, heal us, and unite us!

Blessed be His Name.

If you received an email about a Test blog earlier tonight, please know that was my error, and I was not hacked. I thought I was on a friend’s blog setting her up to go live, but when I got my alert that it posted, all I could do was groan and know that many of you may have received an email about a posted blog. 

I have been missing my Dad lately in more poignant ways. I feel like my body senses still when we enter March, April, and May that the memories still feel fresh. I know the date he had his seizure and the journey of those seven weeks from diagnosis to death. It will be three years this year. I am confident, now than ever, that time is an odd thing when reflecting on grief. 

But I share that only to give context to this. My Dad taught us a lot about showing up. My sister wrote his eulogy and these are some of her words:

I asked my siblings and nieces and nephew’s to spend some time reflecting on what Papa’s life taught them about who he was and who we are. What comes next is a compilation of seven  things we heard when we listened to how he  chose to live. 

Show up. 

Show up to church when your community gathers to worship. 

Show up for your friends when hard things happen. 

Show up for your family when they perform or play in a game or celebrate a milestone and lock their keys in their car again. 

He loved to solve our problems. If someone he liked were stirring the pot for a just cause, he would grab a spoon, show up and stir that pot with them. He was with us, and I dare say many of you, in real and tangible ways when we needed someone just like him to show up. 

My friend told me her word for the year is “show up.”

I had this come across my screen in 3 places this week:

And I am aware that during winter I feel a bit blah. It would be easy for me to find reasons not to show up right now. But in these odd ways, I am encouraged to stay the course, remain engaged with those around me, press on and be present and follow my Dad’s lead. 

My Dad’s life and death taught me that sometimes life changes quickly and unexpected things unfold. I want to live each day to the fullest. I want to make a difference in my world by showing up!

I wonder where you will show up this week and be glad you did?

Maybe because it will be good for your soul and perhaps because it will encourage another person, but most often, those two go hand in hand. 

Go and be present this week, trusting that what you bring is needed!

Blessed be His Name!

Trish

I write a blog first and foremost to mark the journey of each day. There is goodness and hardship, laughter and tears, days of solid contentment and days of deep doubt. Everynday is marked with uniqueness and I don’t want to lose that beautiful reality.

Today was a day of beauty and joy. There will be more pictures than words. The title says it well. Family, fun, snow and sun. A day of playing and laughting, talking and being together.

I hope you have days like this to mark your week or month. I trust you also find ways to mark these extra ordinary moments.

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And such graitude for this home we can get away too for time spent with family in the snow and the sun!

I wasn’t feeling any inspiration tonight, and so I went to my inspiration folder. I found this, and my heart felt sparked.
This picture often speaks HOPE to me. Rarely do I feel like I am at the final step of release, but thank God, I am not in the first position. I will say that I can remember being there.

There was a season of my life where I knew that my daily choices were not aligning with the person I desired to become. I would even pray to experience transformation and still refuse to move into new spaces where change and transformation awaited me.

Each of the images represents a change to me. Change comes with a commitment to want something different, hard work, a willingness to lay down resistance, live into the unknown, and always celebrate movement.
I wonder where you are longing for change in your being, your routine, or your environment? What image do you relate to, and what steps will it take to be the man/woman who celebrates freedom and transformation?

Live with courage, my friends.

Live into the changes/transformation that awaits you!

Blessed be His name,

Trish