It’s so funny how quickly our minds become impatient with routine tasks. Life moves so fast, we feel like we don’t have time for the small but important things we need to do to make sure things are maintained so they run efficiently. Instead, we want instant gratification. We want to skip straight to the reward without putting…
I went to see the movie Hidden Figures this weekend. It was a wonderfully told story of three brilliant black women fighting against racism and sexism in the workplace. The tragedy of the story is that they had to fight for the opportunity to contribute their unique and considerable skill sets to a program that truly…
My parents always provided for my needs no matter how hard it was for them. I’m certain they sacrificed their own needs for mine more often than I realized. Asking for help from others was probably difficult for them, but good parents do what they have to for their children. I received free school lunches and we…
One of the things I’ve always told my children is “do your best.” This is especially important when we are working as part of a team. We each bring different skills and ideas to the team, and each person’s contribution is important. A team with all its members contributing fully has the potential to become better…
The entire last four months have felt like “one of those days” at work. It seems like my team can’t catch a break. This week seemed more brutal than usual. Friday, I left work feeling like I had been beat up. I was physically and mentally exhausted and ready for a nice, relaxing weekend. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen…
Every time I use my driveway, my car bouncing over the uneven surface reminds me of the incredible strength roots have. My driveway is being broken apart from the bottom up by the roots of the giant Bradford Pear tree nearby. Roots are so powerful they can break up a solid slab of concrete weighing many tons! We can…
I talk with God a lot. I mean a lot. It wasn’t always that way, though. Prayer used to seem like a chore. I often didn’t remember to pray, and when I did, it felt either like an afterthought or a forced obligation. I didn’t pray out loud because my prayers seemed inadequate to my…
Balance is a beautiful thing. Unlike symmetry which requires sameness, balance allows for differences to offset each other. One of my favorite examples of asymmetrical balance is in the creation story in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 of the Bible. God worked six days to create the world and rested the seventh day. This…
Tis the season for exchanges and returns. Retail stores often experience their busiest week of the year right after Christmas. Gifts that are the wrong size, color, or just not wanted are taken back to the store for exchange or return. During my years working in retail, I witnessed the purchase-return cycle countless times. A shopper searching…
My dad had a dream of living on a self sustaining farm. The spring before my seventh birthday, he bought a five acre homestead in central Illinois and moved our family there. We were surrounded by mega farms on all sides so it seemed to me as if we had moved to a small island in the middle of…