Month: February 2021

May we all be about re-uniting the United States of America!

I love it when commercials and media inspire us to unity!

Remember the slogan and the commercials?

Let me refresh your memory!

In a day of technology and texting, something seems so warm and straightforward to this advertisement. To know that when the phone rings, it is someone thinking about you and wanting to connect with me feels like a foreign reality. So often, my first thought when my phone rings are it must be spam.

On Superbowl Sunday, when Ads are usually so good, I share this one with you and encourage you to do just that this week. Reach out and touch someone, reach out and say hi.

Let’s make our world a better place by caring about and loving others with generosity and abundance!

Blessed be His name!

 

 

I will write about something and make an assumption I am not alone in what I am feeling.

I am aware there are some places in my life that I have to choose courage. I have to venture out and commit to some new ways of doing things. I am not talking about anything foolish or risky, just spaces I know I need to choose courage.

Last night in my night time prayers, i asked God to show me courage today in someone else. Courage in a way that would speak to my heart. I didn’t expect to see it where I did, but this right here was my answer to prayer.

My niece Johanna and her friend Evy wanted to go skiing today. I dropped them off at 130, and they came home happy, laughing, and cold at 830 pm. They conquered the hills, had a great time together, spent the day outdoors, and both can be very proud.

You see, just a few weeks ago, these girls didn’t know how to ski. They both ventured into something new and gave it their all. They did not overthink it, worry about it, wonder if they could succeed, or wait too long to try it.

Six hours in to their outing today, Johanna sent me this

Today Johanna and Evy are my answer to prayer. I can look at this very ordinary event for so many and see courage and joy in them and through them.

I wonder what might change in your life if you practiced courage in that space you know needs some courage infused.

My friend got a tattoo recently, and I leave it with you. For Hannah it is a beautiful message to carry with her in her Mom’s handwriting. But the words can speak to each and every one of us.

May we be courageous people who choose to live first and foremost with courage in our own choices and actions. And from our own experience, may we kindly invite others to live courageously as well!

It sounds almost magical, doesn’t it…

Today we had a first good winter dose; snow, ice, bitter cold temperatures, wind, a snow day for so many, and even now, still more snow.
As I think about it today, it didn’t feel romantic as it unfolded. I work in providing non-medical home care, and we had Caregivers stuck in their driveways and running late on the roads. But it never goes unnoticed how our caregivers get up and get out to do their job. I love that about snowy days!

As I think about today, it didn’t feel romantic when the news shows jack-knifed semi’s, and I hear of all the slide off’s on the police radio I often listen to in my time at home. I am aware that the day went very differently from planned due to accidents and injury for some.

But tonight, I took a walk with my niece and my puppy. I had such an excellent time chatting with my neighbors who were out shoveling. Wilhelmina jumped through the snow like a leaping bunny. It is as deep as she is tall, and she bound through it with energy and delight. Johanna and I talked as we walked and realized how cold the air really was on this wintery day. Johanna flopped into the fresh and deep snow as we got home and laid there giggling and making a snow angel. For a few moments, with gentle snow and crisp air, with a puppy playing with my niece who was making a perfect snow angel, the wintery day felt magical!

I am not a lover of snow and winter, but I caught a glimpse of its beauty tonight. I hope that sometime during this snowy weekend or another, you will experience the creative wonder of God’s unique gift of winter.

Are you zoom weary or technology tired?

I know that the last 10 months has increased the amount of time we are dependent on technology for work, worship, friendships, and family time. Sometimes I hear people say they look forward to being off from technology as we move into more “normal” times. 

I understand Zoom weary and technology tired, but today I want to highlight how technology is such a gift.

Today my friends, one of whom is at Mary Free Bed, were able to be with their family as they watched a live-streamed funeral for a family member. There was something so tender in helping set them up to be a part of this family event. I left so grateful for Ipads and live stream. 

Today I had a friend celebrate her 100th birthday with all of her kids via Zoom. There was sadness they were not together, but there was deep gratitude they could “be together” in a different way. 

I received a beautiful email from my friend at Church. We are all still missing each other, but this reminded me that we can combat zoom weary and COVID isolation. 

“I am in a small Zoom group, which I love. We meet at 9:30 on Sunday morning, chat for a bit, watch the service and then get together and chat some more. In fact, one of our members baked bread and dropped off a slice to all of us on Saturday, so our communion service really was from “one loaf.””

I want to encourage us all to be creative and grateful for the ways we can connect. Don’t forget to send an invite and share time with those you love. We may be 10 months in, but we are not done yet, so don’t lose heart and don’t lose touch. 

 

 

 

I have a favorite piece I like to reflect on. It is not scriptural, but I do believe it speaks to a call of God on my life. When I read this first in my early 30’s, I was a new Hospice social worker, and this came from Companioning the Bereaved: A Soulful Guide for Caregivers. I used this piece to lead our grief support group, and I felt my own heart and attitudes change as I meditated on the meaning of each phrase. I have learned this piece is about so much more than grief. This piece is about how we live to honor one another. 

I wonder what resonates in your heart as you read it through? I wonder where you can feel the body memory of someone companioning you? I wonder if you can name the spaces you have companioned someone else? I hope that this piece brings you hope. Hope for the ways you long to be with others and hope for the ways you invite others to be with you! 

Companioning  is…

not about focusing on the intellect, 

but about honoring the spirit

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not about expertise, 

but about curiosity

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not about teaching others, 

but about learning from others

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not about leading, 

but about walking alongside

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not about frantic movement forward, 

but about being still

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not about filling every painful moment with words, 

but about discovering the gift of sacred silence

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not about analyzing with the head, 

but about listening with the heart

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not about directing the struggles of others,

but about bearing witness to those struggles

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not about taking away pain,

but about being present to another person’s pain

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not about imposing order and logic,

but about respecting disorder and confusion

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not about thinking you are responsible for finding the way out,

but about going to the wilderness of the soul with another human being.

 

My puppy Wilhelmina Hope was born October 3, 2020. That means tomorrow she is 4 months old and since she came home at 8 weeks, she has lived with me for only 8 weeks. Then I have the most awesome arrangement with my neighbors who are my support people and Willa’s other family and they love on her every night from 4 to 9p and every other weekend. This means in some ways I have shared half of that 8 weeks, and it still feels like she has been around forever. She fits right in, has a great personality, is funny, snuggly and full of energy.

One thing I have learned from Willa, that I want to invite you to consider today, is the importance of rest. Willa must have been tired at the office today so she fell over right where she was and took a nap. I will show you how the day started for Willa.

She woke up about 530 am hungry for breakfast. This was her position when she nuzzled me awake. She somehow has found her sleeping place in the crux of my arm. We then got up and went outside, had breakfast, which took about 2 minutes, and I put her back on my bed. She very quickly snuggled into the pillow pile and was fast asleep again. There is something that makes me smile so big. The peaceful sound of the snore could put me right to sleep.

I then wake her up to leave for work, and she looks at me like I am crazy. She doesn’t move until I scoop her up, and she snuggles into my shoulder like it is way too early to get up! We hit the road, and I am petting her and telling her that she is showing me this morning how smart it would be to take a day to rest sometime,

A day to lay around and not leave the house until we feel like we are done resting. A day when our goal is to do nothing but rest. I am chattering away, and then I listen, and I hear the snore again. Sweet Wilhelmina hope has fallen asleep on the way to work. I guess she just isn’t a morning dog.
I want to encourage each of you to build in a day of rest in the coming month. Find some half or whole day when you live like Willa does and allow yourself nothing but rest. We have had a lot of stress, a fair bit of anxiety, and conflict around us and within us in the last year. Perhaps a real gift to yourself during February is to give yourself a gift, a day of rest.

Let me know if you give it a try and how it is for your soul. Somehow it feels like only good will come! And now Willa is curled up next to me, snoring. I think I will go to sleep.

 

Today I got to thinking about the difference between these three words. I wondered what approach I most often use when I desire to have someone join me in a task or adventure.

Command/demand

I don’t believe that I use command very often. It just isn’t my style. But I know the feeling in my spirit when my energy is one of command/demand, even in my kind voice. I don’t like myself in that space, and I know I am not very inviting there. I am also aware that if I engage with someone who commands/demands, I am not interested in participating.

Do you know the feeling of command/demand? How does that serve you or others if you utilize this communication style regularly?

Challenge

I have come to recognize that I have a competitive streak in me. I do know what it feels like in my spirit when I am leading with a challenge. When engaging from this space, I am setting up a win/lose mindset. I am either trying to prove something to myself or something to myself about the other person. I do not consider this as a vibrant, life-giving space. I often find that in Church, the Pastor will lead with I challenge you to this. I would instead like to be invited….:-)

How often do you find yourself competing with someone, even if they don’t know you challenged them. What would it be like to set down the competition and live fully present, embracing the moment?

Invitation

This is the space I want to live in. I live in more tension when I am inviting someone to join me. The pressure comes from naming that I have no control over the outcome. I recognize that I could be disappointed if my invitation isn’t accepted. I balance that with the anticipation that my invitation may be taken, and I would delight in the enjoyment of what is to come. When I genuinely invite, I must pause my thinking from trying to prepare for the other response. 

I find invitation the most vulnerable and the most rewarding. Do you know that space for yourself? 

I love this quote and believe it invites us to so much more than what I write about here: Nelson Mandela modeled a life of invitation in so many ways. Consider the words, actions, and attitude of your heart. Be curious about where, when, and why the invitation takes the lead in your spaces. 

Blessed be His name, 

Trish