As someone whose faith tradition lacks much in the way of a liturgical year, I am drawn to the Jewish holidays. They are, after all, the ones set forth in the Bible. Extreme Protestantism leaves one a bit bereft… we don’t do Lent or Advent or Saint’s Days. Easter and Christmas, that’s it. (I have…
Category: Personal Growth
Leaving Laodicea
Coming October 1, 2023 Laodicea is a worldview that values the rat-race over connection. It’s a physical location that makes it hard to participate in community even if we want to. Laodicea has its hooks in all of us. We know that what we’re doing isn’t working. We read the statistics about loneliness being more…
Doing Vs. Being
The chrysalis time continues. I had thought I had emerged, that my wings were going to grow and dry in the sun. Now I realize that the nature of the transformation to which I was called is something entirely different. My transformation was not a transformation of actions. My transformation was a transformation of self….
Emerging from the Chrysalis
Emerging from the chrysalis, the butterfly is weak, her wings wet. In the struggle to exit the chrysalis, the wings are strengthened, but she must still sit and fan them, slowly drying them and expanding them to their full potential. She knows herself to be transformed, but yet is not ready to fly. It comes…
Midlife Crisis and Rework
A midlife crisis is such a trite thing to go through, but there are seasons in life that are meant to give us pause. It becomes time to redirect our efforts and rework our lives. I have been given the privilege, as I approach my 50th birthday, to take a season off of my ordinary…
Transparency is not Vulnerability
No one wants to be vulnerable to the general public, and I’d absorbed the idea that transparency = vulnerability. Recent events have forced me to confront this notion, and I’ve come to the conclusion that I was wrong – transparency is not vulnerability. To see something is not to have the ability to harm it….
Cycle of Seasons
Cycles of seasons compose our lives. Each season has its cycle, its beginning, its end. Each group of seasons is composed of seasons of rest, of productivity, of beauty, of silence. This cycle of seasons is there for all to observe, but we ignore what is before us to pursue what “should be”. In the…
Chrysalis Time
Chrysalis Time is a time of transformation. It’s the process of letting yourself go all gooey and insubstantial, the process of letting go of the things you have known about yourself. It’s a time to say, “I don’t know” and “I used to, but maybe not” and “let’s see”. In chrysalis time, our work consists…