The Fish Tank

The kitchen table. This is my space. I love life around the table. It fills my spirit and replenishes my soul. I love the harmony of the conversations that happen here and the food that nourishes. There is nothing better to me than a table full of people. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 The area around the table is sacred. This is where burdens are laid down and shared; a place for rest and refueling. We have all heard the studies that show children are more successful when families spend time around the table. Life is lived here. When I think of Jesus' table I see a bunch of mix-matched chairs. You know the trend today: a farmhouse-style table and chairs that do not match set around it. That's Jesus' table. Nothing matches. Nothing really makes sen...

I sat outside in my chair to do some work on my computer while I watched the boys play. There's been some tension in our pack of boys and I wanted to make sure everything stayed even keel. I noticed one of the boys trying to pull another child away from a game; kind of trying to isolate that kiddo away from the one whom he was playing. Anyway, I went over to the little guy to chat. His first instinct: blame someone else. This didn't work out for him too well since the kid he chose to blame was not even there. When I confronted him on accepting that it was he who made the mistake, he completely shut down. It was torturous to admit fault and blame. Calling this boy out on his mistake was more than he could handle. Like many of us, we don't want to admit guilt. In our culture, we believe there is an innocent race; that we have innocent neighborhoods. This is the root of our problems with one another. You see, there are no innocent people or innocent neighborhoods. Not one....

"Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it’s just too bad, because there is no one to help him." Ecclesiastes 4:9- "People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron." Proverbs 27:17 "And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11 Everybody needs a champion. We all need that one person in our corner cheering us on. You know the one: the friend that believes in you when you cannot believe in yourself. We all need a champion. The Bible gives us many examples of people championing for one another. A perfect example of this is Jonathan and David. You find their story in 1 and 2 Samuel in the Old Testament. Jonathan was David's biggest cheerleader. Instead of being his rival or being envious of David's future as king, Jonathan gave David his robe and milita...

I recently had a friend send me a link to an author's Facebook live. The topic was on dreams; the dreams we have and how to attain them. It's not a dream. It's a goal. BAM! Rachel Holis explained that dreams live in this far off unattainable land. Dreams are something you think about and wish could happen. In order to make dreams a reality, one must transition the verbiage from dream to goal. Whoa! This is SO simple but it was SO eye-opening for me. I can talk all day long about the dreams I have for myself and accomplish nothing but a high count of spoken word for the day. But, the moment I change my dream to a goal I now have something to work towards. I have talked about my dreams A LOT for the past three years. I talked about them with friends, my husband, and even wrote about them a time or two. It wasn't until the end of the summer that I finally transitioned my dreams to goals. And let me just tell you, that was kind of scary. I think we like to liv...