A Blurred Reflection

Category: Life Lessons… and an Occasional Smack Upside the Head

  • Servants

    When the forests wipe the sleep from their eyes and ever-so-slowly pull on their ethereal dressing-gowns of green, I always unbox my own earthy memories of the days I spent as a landscaper. Those were humbling days, and rich ones. Rich, because I could be in the dirt, and beautify the land, and feel the…

  • Desert Flowers

    I walk along, and cannot understand the brave desert flowers. All alone in the wilderness of dust, rock and crumbling pebble soil, they turn their faces towards the sun.  They follow the sun’s rays with their faces all day. Fragile petals of hope reaching up to a blazing orb. Hopefully. Trustingly. The sun is their…

  • Character

    Character. That foundational piece of you. Yes, YOU. Untouchable by disease.  Unhindered by poverty. Unmistakable when times get hard. It’s the man battling cancer and the man battling heart disease who invest hope into each other instead of speaking of their own pain. It’s the mom with the uncooperative toddler in the grandchildren photoshoot–the mom…

  • 5 Ways to Keep Holiday Gatherings Merry & Bright

    1. Announce Your Hugging Game Plan A simple fix to the awkwardness of choosing the appropriate greeting for varying levels of acquaintance is to let the other person know what you are going for. I like to ask, “Would you like a hug?” or, if I know they like hugs but don’t know if they…

  • If You Are Tired

    Know this. Ministry is not something you do. It is not possible to add ‘Love God and Love People’ to a daily task list. It comes from a much more powerful place than sheer will power. If you are tired, working so hard at All Those Things I Deeply Care About, know this: they were…

  • Together

    Just as it has been decreed, darkness is creeping towards us. Famine, wars and rumors of wars. Child against parent and parent against child and nation against nation. Loss of hope. Together, we will choose what is true. Even when we do not understand it. Even when it does not fit in with what we…

  • Safe

    From the pebble beach of Blue Marsh Lake that yellow September day, I gazed at the sky above the vicious locust trees and asked Jesus what he had to say to me. “A storm is coming.” That’s what I thought he said. Had I just imagined the words? A wisp of mare’s tail cloud hung…

  • You Are My Very Own Miracle

    We used to fight silently in the shadows of the old family room that had the orange flowers on the wall–our hair flying, using our fingernails to leave long red streaks on each-other’s arms.

  • They Killed the Biggest Bear

    I pointed Harley’s face towards the creek at the edge of the woods, speaking into her ear with quiet intensity. She lowered her head, wriggling away from my grasp. Then the lights came on. Her ears shot forward. Her eyes froze. Her hackles stood up. Growling,  she strained against me, but I did not let…

  • Identity

    “We all live in agreement with our perceived identity.”  Think about that for a moment, Heaven-Warrior, if you dare. Think about that all day long. Tomorrow, think about this: To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12, ESV Have you found the truth for you…