What does it mean to truly flourish? In a culture that often equates flourishing with achievement, recognition, or personal success, Christian flourishing points us in a different direction. According to Zoltán Dörnyei in The Psychology of the Fruit of the Spirit: The Biblical Portrayal of the Christlike Character and Its Development, flourishing is ultimately about …
Category: Flourishing
Blue Zones
There are times that I wish that I didn’t find correlating messages so frequently, because it generally means there is more reading ahead. And as much as I love reading and learning, I had really expected an Expiration Date for this flourishing topic; instead, it keeps going and going like that one battery company’s mascot! …
Prayers Don’t Expire
If you aren’t a regular reader here or if you are and just didn’t notice, most of the blog titles are one to three words. At first this intentionality was because the blogging software creates the web address using the title, the longer the title, the longer the link. However, as God continued to provide …
Expiration Dates
When teaching about food safety in nutrition, it is not uncommon for me to educate students on the differences between “buy by,” “use by,” or Expiration Dates. Although I do not advise it, the reality is that sometimes I allow these to be mere suggestions, not necessarily a hard line. There are exceptions though, most …
Sober-Minded
Whether shaped by culture or my experience teaching drug education, the first definition that comes to mind when I hear the word sober almost always relates to alcohol or drugs. Because of this, I find myself momentarily distracted when encountering the word in Scripture—particularly in passages like 1 Peter 5:8. Even across translations, the Greek …
Beyond Windshield Glass
Evidently, I am “in love with the mountains,” according to a friend’s recent description of me to her son after a trip to British Columbia. I mean… I’d prefer to be known for being in love with Jesus—or at the very least my husband (still waiting for him to make himself known!)—but I can’t exactly …
What’s Going Right
As I browsed the new books section of the local library, one title immediately caught my attention: What’s Going Right? As someone continually searching for appreciative frameworks, I was intrigued. The author’s name, Paul Conti, seemed familiar, so I picked it up and began reading. Before I even made it out of the introduction, I …
For Good
On a drive through south-central Kentucky, it’s not uncommon to lose a radio signal while passing through a holler tucked between rocky cliffs. Yes, I still sometimes listen to that now-archaic format of music sent across the airwaves. And for younger generations, losing a radio signal often means losing a cellphone signal too. For that …
Eye is on the Robin
Had I attended the birding workshop at Clay Hill Memorial Forest or consulted Dr. Andy Madison, I might have understood what unfolded before me. Instead, I was given a quiet, everyday moment that carried a profound message—no pulpit, no sermon—just persistence revealed in real time. This spring, the message arrived in the form of a …
Cognitive Closure
When a season ends painfully or unexpectedly, the mind naturally searches for Cognitive Closure—a firm explanation that will quiet uncertainty and restore a sense of stability. Psychologically, this is understandable. When a story feels unresolved, we long for clarity, coherence, and a verdict about what happened and what it means. For faculty, whose vocation is …
Flourishing @ Life 