We all seem to want a simple fix these days. Social media creates in us a false sense of believing that we can have whatever we want. We are bombarded with the “best” of everything—finest vacations, exotic foods, fancy clothes, successful diets, effective exercise programs, and sound advice. Yet, there is a caveat. Have you heard the phrase, “Nothing can be achieved without enthusiasm” ? I think that needs to be revised to say , “Nothing can be achieved without enthusiasm AND

Any trekkies out there? Being married to one, I am all too familiar with the phrase “live long and prosper.” I suppose the reason this phrase is repeated so often is it really is the desire of our hearts. Who doesn’t want to live long and prosper? When you look at how most of us live, the focus is usually on extending our lives in some fashion with diet, exercise, medicine, surgery, or pursuing the fountain of youth! Prosperity is the American dream, right? While prosperity c

Setbacks are a part of life, unfortunately. Setbacks are not a respecter of persons. All of us will face our own desert experiences. Sometimes these experiences are of our own making. We have plenty of examples of this in the Bible (e.g., Israelites, Samson, David). Other times those setbacks have an eternal purpose that we won’t understand until much later. Regardless of the reason, there are some truths we must embrace in order to survive our setbacks and navigate the wilde

Do you ever lose sight of what is important? I do. Demands at home and work often monopolize my time and thoughts. I do my best to protect my Bible reading and prayer time because it is the only thing that helps me keep things in perspective. Without the Holy Spirit’s guidance through God’s Word, I’d really be in big trouble. I was listening to a sermon podcast recently on one of my flights. I found the sermon to be quite convicting, which happens to me in just about every se

If you have lived in America for any length of time, you have probably heard the idiom “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” While I might be taking some liberty with the meaning, the phrase implies that we can, using our own effort, tackle any challenging situation. In other words, we don’t have to rely on anyone. We are independent. The concept of independence originated in Genesis when Adam and Eve traded dependence on God for dependence on self. Independence basically me

Yesterday I took a few moments to scroll through Facebook. I wanted a mindless task. I stumbled on a video shared by a fellow educator, and while I usually don’t take time to watch videos, this one looked interesting. It was hard to watch as eighteen teachers shared their disappointment, disillusionment, and frustration with the educational profession. All eighteen are reluctantly choosing to leave their jobs. Some will stay in the field of education, but most will not. Based

If you are human, you have struggled with consistency in some area of your life. I’m not really sure why it is so hard. But. It. Is. For example, have you ever worked hard to be consistent with eating right and exercising? Did you notice after a consistent period of time in both of these areas how good you felt about your accomplishment? You had proof that being consistent with how you ate and exercised yielded positive results. And yet…eventually you regressed. A few chips h

Who doesn’t love summer? Sunshine, flowers, pool, beach, and vacation (to name just a few highlights)! Summer is also a time when many of us hone our gardening skills. For me, I love to plant tomatoes. They go in the ground as small plants, and before I know it, they have grown into fruit producing bushes! Unfortunately, tomatoes are not the only things to grow in my gardening beds. Those pesky weeds are constantly trying to sneak in and steal nutrients from the soil. If I do

I recently had dinner with an old friend. We quickly caught up on our lives before our conversation turned deep and reflective. I suppose that is a sign of age. The kids are gone, which leaves a great deal of time to think and reflect. There are times I wish I could just shut my brain off and live in the moment, but I am finding that difficult to do these days. As my friend and I were “solving the world’s problems”, she made a comment about the importance of being “tethered”.

The Week After… Teacher Appreciation Week It is pretty neat that there is an actual week set aside to appreciate teachers. Someone (there are mixed reports as to whom) reached out to Eleanor Roosevelt back in the 1950’s about the idea. She then persuaded Congress to set aside a day to recognize educators. I love her. A lot happened after that to make it an official day, but I was intrigued by how it all started with one determined person. My guess is that person may have been

Like it or not, as Christians we are in a battle. I realize this is not popular to say. Everyone these days wants to focus on the positive, which is certainly not a bad thing. However, being positive does not mean we should forget the battle raging around us. Caleb, in the fourteenth chapter of Joshua, had been engaged in battle for forty years. At the end of those forty years, he was able to say, “I followed the Lord My God fully.” As a result, God rewarded him. Oh, to be li

I’m a frequent flyer. Most of the time, I enjoy flying because it is my time to relax a bit and reflect on my day. I am often in my own little world. This usually isn’t a problem because most people who fly, or the ones that sit next to me, are also often not talkative. I suppose they have their own little world, too. Today was different. I had the great fortune of being moved to first class, one of the few perks of being a frequent flyer. This happens quite a bit now, and I

Have you ever felt God place a calling on your life? I have. Once you felt that calling, did you second guess it? I have. Did you wonder if the calling really was a calling or just a personal desire? I have. Did you let your second guessing morph into confusion? I have. Did you let that confusion turn in to a paralysis? I have. The result? Nothing. Nada. Stagnation. Yearning. Nothing happens when we are afraid to move forward and make a mistake. Little is accomplished when we

As an educator, you might be familiar with the lyrics from the song “Start of Something New” from High School Musical . Before writing this introductory blog, I really hadn’t paid too much attention to the lyrics, but I loved the title of the song, so I took a quick peek. Living in my own world, didn't understand That anything can happen when you take a chance. I never believed in what I couldn't see. I never opened my heart to all the possibilities. I know that something has