Month: March 2024

Life and Hope

Our new pastor at my church is bringing fresh ideas and new traditions. Today, we experienced a beautiful practice: Flowering the Cross.

May be an image of 1 person, amaranth and flowerFlowering the cross is a Western Christian tradition practiced at the arrival of Easter, in which worshippers place flowers on the bare wooden cross used in the Good Friday liturgy to symbolize “the new life that emerges from Jesus’s death on Good Friday.”

What a beautiful reminder and image that Easter is about new life and Hope. Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.

❤️trish

 

 

 

Favorite Memories take the cake

I did not grow up with the Easter Egg hunt tradition, but I started to create some traditions for my nieces and nephews. I am fortunate to have a slew of nieces and nephews born continuously over a few years, so they all get along, and there is enough of them to allow for some fun events.

 

Just recently, as we remembered some of the different ways we celebrated Easter, this one became one of our favorites. When I asked why it was their favorite, they said it required teamwork!

Each cousin had a partner they had to hold hands with the entire time during the egg hunt. Any movement had to be done hand in hand with the other. There, of course, was a race for the first ones finished. You can watch the video and see how much fun it was!

The other thing was that each egg held pieces to a puzzle. Without speaking, they had to put the puzzle together. The finished picture was a group shot of the kids from when they were younger. It shows that, in the end, it is not about everything that fills the eggs or how much they acquire but the memories made when being together!

Be sure to take time on Easter Sunday in your relationships; be curious and engaging. Set phones aside, enjoy one another, and live with gratitude for all we are blessed to enjoy!! ❤️ Trish

 

 

The tangible items of Good Friday

I have spent a reasonable amount of time today thinking about Good Friday’s events. The passages are familiar, and the events and outcomes are unsurprising. Yet again, though, I am impacted by the fact that even with all that being true, it is a significant day!

Today, I felt myself drawn to the tangible aspects of the day. I have a crown of thorns hanging on my bedroom wall, and I have often stopped to feel its sharpness and imagine the uneven and jagged thorns pressing into my head. Somehow, this year, it feels more honest with the tangible around me.

Tonight, in the scripture reading at the Tenebrae service, we read how theywhite vinegarput a sponge to Jesus’ lips with vinegar or sour wine. It brought me back to when I had a Sedar dinner, and we tasted the vinegar. The tangible bitter taste came back to me as they read the words. I was grateful for the tangible experience I had.

Crown of Thorns and Nails on CrossLastly, tonight, again, I heard the nails pounding into the cross. I heard the pounding while we listened to the clarinet sorrowfully play the tune to the words, “Sorrow and love flowed mingled down.” I could close my eyes and feel the moment in some realness. I am grateful for the tangible ways that Good Friday came to life for me this year.

I hope that you will experience different aspects of the story coming t o life for y9u both for Good Fridya and Easter! Today is Friday, but Sunday is coming! ❤️ trish

A new world

If you hang around my Mom, you will hear her say, it’s a new world! She is amazed at all the new ways of doing things, from Artificial Intelligence to QR codes used for almost everything and signing into Netflix on your TV from your phone.

But this is a woman who, 71 years ago, really was on her way to experience a new world. As a 10-year-old girl, she walked onto a ship and ventured to America.

I wonder about many things as days come and days go….

My mind thinks in wondering….

For the last two days, I have often wondered about my Pake. Let me sidetrack for a quick definition lesson:

The Frisian grandmother is ‘beppe’ (bep-puh), and the grandfather is ‘pake’ (pah-kuh). In Friesland, you’d call your mom ‘mem’ and your dad ‘heit’ (height).

Yesterday was the anniversary of my Pake’s death. I was in fourth grade when he died. I wish I had had more time with him. I wonder much about his life and journey. I remember that he was a quiet man. I have heard that he was a good provider and worked hard. I consider him a risk-taker because today is the anniversary of their immigration departure. This picture was taken 71 years ago, just before they set out for America.

I wonder how it was for my Pake to set out from the land he knew to an unknown land…

I wonder how it was for my Beppe to say goodbye to her family (including two of their children) and trust her husband’s vision…

I wonder how it was for my Mom, my Uncles, and my Aunts to leave their friends, their school, and their neighborhood to board a ship that would take them to a new place where they didn’t understand the language, came face to face with a different culture and felt like strangers in a new land they now called home….

I wonder about so much….

I wonder what adventure you are being called to or convicted of today. Does it carry significant risks, and will it change your family story?

I have a favorite quote, and when I read it, I see Pake and Beppe’s faces….To discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

Thank you, Pake and Beppe, for being willing to lose sight of the shore and demonstrating that trusting God can sometimes require significant risks but also bring great rewards over time!

The Maasdam ship then…and The Maasdam ship now….

Maybe a Holland American Cruise on the Maasdam is in order! 🙂

Happy 71st anniversary of your immigration day, leaving the Netherlands and heading towards a new world! ❤️ trish

becoming by unbecoming

The journey of unbecoming. · MoveMe QuotesSo often, we strive to become something or someone. Becoming often includes changing, adding, reshaping, or striving for change in small ways or sometimes experimenting with more significant changes. Over the years, these changes can cause people to lose their sense of self. Sometimes, it is in the smallest of ways and other times; they may feel unrecognizable through their own eyes or the eyes of others.

So, I invite you to consider the process of unbecoming instead of becoming. What would you want to unbecome? Can you name one or two things you took on and what you hoped for? If you let that go, what part of the real you would be freed?

As I worked through this over the years, I realized I took on the role of someone who would agree not to cause waves. In unbecoming, I learned to use my voice, and I became a truth speaker. That is just one example. Feel free to share ways that you too are/have been unbecoming!

Keep becoming your true self each and every day!  ❤️trish

 

 

The power of body memories

Tomorrow, the 26th of March, is six years since my Dad had a seizure that began his last seven weeks of life. Of course, we did not know that at the time. But what continues to amaze me is how my body holds the memories.

I won’t go through each day for the next seven weeks, remembering each moment, but there is something in my body that reminds me of these weeks. There is a sweetness in the remembering. I will listen more quickly to some places where his voice is recorded and read through some areas where I can remember his words.

My Facebook memories will remind me of the updates we posted. So many good friends shared good prayers and words of peace; they comfort our hearts still six years later. And so, this is a season of remembering the days of living before the dying, remembering the tension of living fully present before saying goodbye, holding the sweet moments in the sorrow, and being grateful for all my Dad offered us in day-to-day living. Six years later, the grandkids seem grown and have become delightful young adults.

So much time has passed, but I am confident that my Dad lived well and died well. I am convinced that although we miss him daily, he lived fully until his last breath. I remind myself of those things when my body remembers the deep ache of the journey. I remind myself I am not in that season of living, but it is six years later, and all will be well.

I wonder what kind of memories your body remembers and carries with you? Only you know, but it is good to journal and think through what your body needs to say about all it holds. Could you give it a listen? I bet you will not be disappointed. ❤️ trish

 

 

 

Even versus odd

My blog is called Journey to My Heart. Sometimes, I write from the more vulnerable spaces within. Tonight is one of those blogs. I am a single hetrosexual woman. Being single in today’s world is complicated. I find that people often assume that being single must mean I am part of the queer community. If that is not true, then you must be divorced. I am not sure why I am single. I was open to marriage and dated here and there, but I am deeply content in my soul overall.

I have a very supportive family and an extraordinary faith community. I love my work and commit time to volunteering in spaces that bring positive outcomes to our community and/or culture. I am comfortable with myself and in my skin. It took some time to get there, and I marvel when I am home in the quiet space. Thank God for the gift of peace deep in my being!

Now that I am in my 50s, I have a question for those in pairs of 2: How often do you have an even number of people in your social groups? How frequently do you invite single people to mix with your married friends? Single people are single for all kinds of reasons. I know single parents and grandparents, people who are widowed or divorced or never married; we value intergenerational engagement and enjoy being included in social gatherings. I am not asking for social pity for single people. I am just noticing how often events are for groups of 4, 6, or 8, or round tables hold 6, 8, or 10. I wonder why we shy away from the odd numbers. Consider inviting 1 or 2 single people sometimes to your social outings with the different communities you are in. Thank you, friends, for considering!

❤️ trish

 

Texting or calling?

I find that often when I reach out to text someone, I think twice before instinctively moving in that direction. I am asking myself if a phone call would make more sense in this situation. Would a conversation be better than texting? I find so much more unfolds in a phone conversation than in a texting exchange.

Sometimes, it is still a text. More often than not, however, I realize that a call brings about many more good results for myself and, hopefully, for the person I speak with. I find that choosing a relationship and communicating a message is almost always a win-win!

I find that texting is quick, convenient, and an acceptable means of communication. However, even more important is choosing to call is choosing a connection. In today’s busy and crazy world, I want to nurture relationships every chance I can!

I am a promise….

May be an image of text that says 'POSSIBILITY IN FULL BLOOM'I am sure others remember the song…I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise with a capital P, I am a great big bundle of potentiality!

I grew up singing this song, and it came to mind when I saw this picture today. What if we faced every day believing that possibility is in full bloom?

Would it change how you think about the start of each day?

Would it change how you enter into difficult situations, conflicts, or situations where you fear the unknown?

Embracing that possibility is in full bloom does not remove difficult days or make everything turn out rosy. But perhaps it allows us to not lose hope, even on the most challenging days! Live into the possibility of today!

❤️ trish