How do you know when you are trusting God’s timing and not your own? If hindsight were equal to foresight, the answer might come easily. But if I could see the future, there would be no need for faith—no need to rely on God. This Paradoxical Life often rattles my thinking and leaves me confused. …
Category: Habits
Third Verse
Imagine this scenario from the perspective of someone who would rather be behind the stage than on it—anything to avoid being the person in front. It’s commencement day. Excitement hums through the air as graduates celebrate this milestone. Faculty in full regalia line up, ready to enter the chapel. Our main concern? That the sweet …
Me-First Attitude
If you pose a question like, “What are your thoughts on the current college transfer rules?” you’re almost guaranteed to spark a lively debate about the state of intercollegiate athletics—especially on a campus where nearly 80 percent of students are athletes. Teach in a sport-related discipline, and the intensity rises: not only are most students …
Rag Drawer
Perhaps you call it something else—the place where worn-out shirts and frayed washcloths go to linger in a kind of suspended animation until summoned for duty as a dust rag or a soft cloth for waxing the car. Maybe it lives near your Junk Drawer or in some other tucked-away spot, but it serves a …
Not an Expert
Yazoo, Mississippi—If reading those words fails to bring to your mind a rich southern drawl sharing the stories of Marcel Ledbetter and coon hunting, then you did not have the same rich childhood that I did growing up in the 1970s. But guess what? You do not have to miss out, because you can Just …
Appreciative Examen
Are you a math person or a language person? Perhaps, like me, you might rate yourself somewhere in between, similar to what is described in a previous post about being a Lark, Owl or Third Bird. Providing information in a numerical format seems easier for me to remember, but words also matter. Ask me to …
Be Brave
With her remarkable creativity and love for children, my friend Ashlee recently organized a Vacation Bible School (VBS) centered around a vibrant superhero theme designed to inspire kids to Be Brave. As we belted out lyrics and flailed along with hand motions to chase away fear—“Fear, fear, get out of here!”—the children’s voices rang through …
Overflowing with Gratitude
When you read the word Overflowing, what imagery comes to mind? Using the image search option on an internet browser, it seems the most common idea of Overflowing is related to water and coffee. Evidently, I’m with the majority, as my thoughts tend towards the kitchen--boiling pasta on the stove and pouring milk over a …
Hope Ahead
In previous posts there has been an attempt to share with you the Five Habits of a Flourishing Life, and the Hope is for future opportunities to share practical suggestions for how to cultivate these habits. However, no matter how many books are read, studies perused, or conversations shared, it currently seems that human flourishing, …
R&D
What brand of toilet paper do you use? Do you invest in Quilted Northern or Charmin? Will any old brand suffice? To be honest, I truly do not care about your brand choices in TP. That’s private information for yourself and for the data mining companies to determine which coupons to place in your mailbox; …
Flourishing @ Life 