After blogging about sanity last month, I had one of the worst months, ever. In the interest of being real, I needed to say that. My suffering was internal. Those close to me noticed something was amiss, but on the outside, it was business-as-usual. We humans are good at masks. You can’t always tell how things really are from our Facebook pages, and thank goodness for that. Life hurts, sometimes, doesn’t it? And realities can’t be changed. All too often, these hard truths involve our family relationships. What can we do? I wish I had neatly-packaged answers. This past month, I simply hung on for dear life. And my friends, if there is one thing I can encourage you to [...]

“Sweet Jesus Christ, my sanity…Sweet Jesus Christ, my clarity…” The words on the screen drew me in, and enveloped me as I sang. This was my song, and I knew it. The song is “Mystery” by Charlie Hall, and the worship pastor chose well that day. For me, the words to the song have special meaning, because insanity runs in my family. My mother died at 47 years of age in a state mental institution. She died of metastatic breast cancer, but nobody remembers that. My sister died at 37 years of age of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It was a desperate act by a person running out of options to continue her life of drug and alcohol abuse. But [...]

I used to belt out the words to that Aretha Franklin classic in the pre-dawn while throwing a paper route for extra money. Little did I know how important the concept of respect would be in my family relationships. Last month I told a true story in my post. This month I want to expand on that story, and explain some hard-learned lessons that grew from that story and others like it in my life. The post told how my son interrupted my urgent details to ask about going to his baseball game, and I became a shrew-on-the-spot. I snapped at him like a guard dog on the end of a chain, only (sadly) as a parent, I don’t have [...]

Once, there was a mom and her son. One bright day, they had a disagreement. And the disagreement turned out to be like manna from heaven. This family lived a busy life. They had not unpacked from an out-of-town trip. They were late to an extended family gathering. And the mom was finishing paperwork that had to be postmarked that day. In the midst of this bustle, the boy asked the mom about his afternoon baseball game. He asked respectfully, but he had asked before. He chose that moment to ask again, because he was running out of time. Answering the boy’s question required the mom to listen, to talk to the boy’s father, to make a decision, and to [...]

Grace is something I desperately, deeply need. So, I try to sprinkle it around. I hope that people in my life will return the favor. I just got a bill (payable immediately) from my son’s university. They didn’t offer me much grace. In fact, they tacked on some finance charges, just to underscore their assertation that no more grace would be given out. I’m sure you can think of some examples of needing grace in your life, can’t you? I can. For example, I often fail people, and sometimes they don’t understand. I don’t mean to, and I’m usually quite sorry, but occasionally, that doesn’t help too much. It’s then that I hope and pray for grace from others, however [...]

I’ve been pondering Josh Hamilton’s story lately. I guess it’s because it’s spring, and the major leaguers are reporting to spring training. Or maybe it’s because it’s time for my son to sign up for little league ball, and his team is dusting off the bats and gloves. Or maybe it’s because I recently read Josh’s book, I don’t know. But whatever the reason, Josh Hamilton’s story about his struggle to come back from drug addiction has been on my mind. By all accounts, Josh should be dead. But instead, with Jesus’ help, he got clean, and became last season’s American League MVP as a professional baseball player for the Texas Rangers. Talk about second chances. What struck me about [...]

Last summer, I was asked to write a love letter. The letter was to my husband, and it was the hardest writing assignment I’ve ever had. It shouldn’t have been so hard. If someone asked you to put your love into words on paper, could you do it? As hard as writing it down may be, it’s far easier to say we love someone than to actually do it. That’s because love is: patient and kind. It is not: proud, self-seeking, or easily angered. And it does not: envy, boast, or dishonor others. (Love definitions from 1 Corinthians 13) Those are tall orders for people who are impatient, unkind, proud, and self-seeking, aren’t they? We are undone from the beginning. But thankfully, from the [...]