"You don't seem so drained," he says. I pause, take a sip of my tea. It really does work, I think to myself. Why had a deprived myself of my morning routine? November is my one year anniversary at my job. After 17 years working from home, I thought I'd adjust to an office position easily, but my energy drained along with my intentions for 2022. Intention is my word 2022, so I deeply felt a weighing heaviness from incompletions. I'd become tired - all the time. I 'd also dropped my ...
Small Changes to Care for Ourselves Well
Stay Strong to Live Long
"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31 "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10 "Keep your bodies strong to live long for Jesus." Grace Fox, author and speaker Fall season is an abundance of pumpkin spice and everything that taste deliciously nice. From sugary spiced special coffees to pumpkin pies topped with sweetened ...
Five Ways to Stay Close to God
Today, when I write this, there are four weeks left of summer, more behind than ahead. My potted flowers that flourished rest now ’til their final slumber. In a leafy part of my garden, with sunflowers towering above, five pumpkins continue to deepen green on the soil. But once there were six. Without a healthy peduncle (stem) attached to the vine, a pumpkin will not survive. Everyday I water the patch, and one day, not too long ago, I moved a vine “to a better place” I ...
Breathing Yahweh
The summers I would visit my father at his care home, we sat outside on the enclosed patio decorated with hanging flower pots and garden chimes. Sometimes the smell of fried chicken would float our way from the fast food restaurant across the street. But my dad preferred donuts and coffee over chicken and french fries, so we sipped our coffee out of paper cups and wiped our sticky fingers on white napkins, as we commented on the going-ons in our world that day. Often lounging with us ...
What I Know for Sure
This summer, in my humble sized backyard, M planted vegetables seeds in my flower pots, buried sunflower seeds in front of my fence, and covered up pumpkin seeds in my modest garden. Labeled stakes were set in the dirt to remind us what sprouts to expect. Whenever I looked out my windows, or wandered into my backyard, I checked for any signs of stems busting through the soil. It didn’t take long for the pumpkin seeds to sprout leafy plants, and sunflower stems to shoot upwards, but the pots ...
How to Thrive When in The Muck
When my step sinks into the saturated grasses, I almost turn away. A few more steps will take me to marshy waters that pool above plants in these wetlands and I’m reminded again. Avoiding the mucky leads to dryness. But thriving comes when saturated with the water. Because what is there is no matter how much avoidance energy is expelled. The trials where we are planted come. The way of survival is to habitat in the tonic waters. When my son’s grade two ...
