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Rejected Rock or Cornerstone
Do you ever feel rejected? I have been really struggling with rejection the past few weeks: gossip, slander, unkind messages, ignored phone calls. Praying and working through this issue, I’ve realized feeling rejected has colored on the canvas of my entire life (but I’m in good company). I remember being happy and confident as a child. Then the first day of kindergarten, I somehow didn’t fit. I was called cruel names. No one asked me to play during recess. A cruel boy ruined my new ‘cowboy’ boots in second grade when I left them in the coat room. I was rejected and bullied mercilessly throughout elementary and middle school. Sophomore…
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Sorry, Not Sorry
She came in from playing outside, her cheeks flushed from the southern sunshine. “Please go pick up your room before dinner,” I asked. My four-year-old turned, made an angry face, with fists at her sides, “I don’t want to!” Giving her the ‘mom’ look, I started towards her. She quickly ran to her room, continuing to shout and whine. I followed her, trying to maintain my patience while I explained that she will not speak to me like this and that picking up her toys is her responsibility. She yelled, “SORRY! But I . . .” And I listened to her little rant, gently corrected her attitude, and modeled an…
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Jesus as Clark Kent
My inner geek is going to show for just a second here. I love superhero origin stories. My favorite part of the story is watching them learn who they truly are, struggle with their powers, choose the responsibility of sacrificial heroism. Can you imagine Jesus as Clark Kent? Jesus is the ultimate hero, but we really don’t know what his life was like before he was the teacher we know. I really wish we could see those early moments of Jesus’s life. Talk about the origin of the hero of all heroes! This advent, I’ve been really focusing on Christ’s coming to earth, becoming human, really imagining what that had…
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Adventures in Advent
I’m trying to catch lightning in a bottle, carefully crafting my daughter’s impressions of Christmas as being magical, one of family and warmth, of cozy reading and precious traditions passed down to her, bonding her to our family, rooting her in love, creating the foundation of celebrating Christ’s birth in our adventures in advent season. She is four and a half, young enough that everyday moments still inspire wonder and excitement, old enough that these moments are becoming memories, hopefully that she will pass onto her own children someday. When I think back to my Christmases as a child, I struggle to remember more than a handful of specific gifts.…
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Can you go 30 Days Without Complaint?
Want to change your attitude? Have more peace? Experience more joy in your life? Take the 30 Days without Complaint challenge with me! I started taking this challenge in 2014. After considering what constitutes complaining, I decided that I wanted to eliminate all of it from my attitude, truly find contentment no matter my circumstance. (Heaven not Harvard is as a participant in affiliate programs including the Amazon Associates Program. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.) The dictionary definition of complain reads, “to say or write that you are unhappy, sick, uncomfortable, etc., or that you do not like something: to say something that expresses annoyance or unhappiness.”…
