"Clutter is not just physical stuff, it's old ideas, toxic relationships and bad habits." ~Eleanor Brown If you are a regular reader you know this and by the way, bless you if you are. I'm so thankful for you. I love to begin with a quote. It's because I find it sort of satisfying to know others before me have noodled on the same issues as I...
“Clutter. Even the word feels heavy when you say it. We've become consumed by stuff and so inundated by things that we almost have nowhere to turn.” ~ Kerri L. Richardson Contrary to what you've been told, it is not robins that herald the arrival of spring. No sir, it's garage sales. Few things arrive as predictably as the time honored tradition of the spring purge. Homes...
“Taking care of yourself doesn't mean me first, it means me too.”~L.R. Knost Here's an all-too-familiar 5:30 PM scenario. You, frantically racing through the grocery aisle hoping to find something tasty you can throw together in 20 minutes. You've been at work all day and soon you'll dash off to meeting, a ball game, or out to tackle your shaggy, over-grown lawn. OK, maybe you just...
"Envy is a symptom of lack of appreciation of our own uniqueness and self worth. Each of us has something to give that no one else has.”~Elizabeth O'Connor Years ago there was a super creepy movie called Seven. It was about a serial killer who used the seven deadly sins as a sort of motif for a string of murders. The film had a star-studded cast, did...
“Tell the negative committee that meets inside your head to sit down and shut up.”~ Ann Bradford My dear friend and mentor Pat McGill always starts her day by spending time in what author Matthew Kelly calls "the classroom of silence." I love starting off every morning the same way and when I don't, the difference is really noticeable. However, all too often our prayer life starts...
"Sisters are different flowers from the same garden."~ Author Unknown Ridiculous isn't it, to think that four days once a year or so is enough to catch up with your sister? The time simply flies by. We never got to the bottom of the list of all we wanted to do while she was here. How silly we were to think we could squeeze more work into...
"Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God."~ George Washington Carver I absolutely loved to climb trees when I was a kid. Summer days were long and sweet and I spent them outdoors from dawn to dusk. A shady hideaway high...
"The gentleman is solid mahogany; the fashionable man is only veneer."~J.G. Holland My husband and I spent several deeply satisfying years buying, restoring and selling antiques. That guy has a genius for spotting a diamond in the rough. He Cinderella-ed many pieces rescued from junk piles, old barns and granaries. Those once beat up and homely cupboards, dressers, benches and tables became treasures after he worked...
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”~African proverb I had a wonderful experience attending my first writer's conference over the weekend. And today I binged on learning and networking at a gathering of women entrepreneurs. What a bright spot they've been in a stretch of gloomy days when spring refuses to show up! At both events I was...
"A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness, he will bring forth justice." ~Isaiah 42:3 Life lessons have a way of appearing on our doorstep over and over again until the light bulb finally turns on. I wrote about forgiveness last April. It happened when I fell into the pages of a book. Tonight as I write this,...