Live on purpose

  The danger of a safe space H ow can a safe space be dangerous, you ask? Because safe often means no growth, no challenge, no rethinking priorities and beliefs and opinions. It means not rocking the boat and sitting in stagnant water as the result. Where are the best lessons learned? Swimming upstream, challenging ourselves and others, expanding our views and thinking critically about the world around us, so as to become better stewards, better friends, better humans.  In thinking about this topic, I found this article by Dan Sanchez, https://fee.org/articles/stop-pushing-your-kids-into-safe-spaces/ , that directly relates this topic to kids. Creating safe spaces for our kids sounds noble and is a catchy buzz phrase (from pre-school all the way through college), but if the tradeoff is stunting their emotional growth or relational skills, it is too high of a price. We want to keep our children safe from real dangers, abuse/neglect, and serious harm, absolutely, but don’t...

The desert: A place of romance  At church a few Sundays ago, to illustrate a point, the pastor described the desert as being “a place of romance.” That symbolism caught my ear (not that I wasn’t listening before…) and piqued my interest, because in the Bible the desert is usually referred to as a place of punishment – for less than stellar leadership, impending judgment, failing to believe the promises of God, and even where Jesus was tempted by the devil for 40 days. But, romance? Not so much. The pastor’s point, however, was that the desert is a place with no distractions to get in the way of worshipping and spending quiet time with God without being pulled in all the directions our normal daily lives pull us. A place to be still. In our fast-paced, tech-savvy, impulse-driven, keep-up-with-the-Joneses world, where do we go for peace and quiet? For reflection, tranquility, for letting God romance us by allowing ourselves to spend time with Him without distractions? And if lettin...

  Small Acts of Kindness … blahblahblah H ow many books and articles and blogs and sermons have been done about small acts of kindness? Too many to count? So many that it has lost its meaning, lost its impact and its “oomph?” It’s become a cheesy bumper sticker cliché, watered down, and used nonchalantly without intention of ever truly being carried out. I was running one day with a piece of paper in my hand, written directions because I was running through an area I wasn’t familiar with. (And because I’m old school, with the paper and all.) Once I got where I was familiar, I crumpled it up and carried it until I saw a trash can. I went a few steps out of my way and tossed it in, just as I passed a guy walking on the sidewalk. He looked at me with a puzzled expression. Now, for all I know his quizzical look could have been due to him considering a major decision he needs to make, or he was lost and looking for a certain house or road, or maybe he was curious as to why I paired ze...