I always felt unremarkable, which I think I could have been okay with if the world didn’t always send messages that made me feel as if ordinary was an outrage. When I was a kid, the word average meant you were like everyone else. It meant you were okay. You were enough. You fell into the middle and you weren’t worried about being out-twirled at baton practice or made fun of when the metal bar fell on your head.
Those were happy days. If, somewhat unremarkable.
But at some point, and maybe it was when I started paying attention, everything changed. Being average meant you were like the less-than sign used in math – pointing in the wrong direction, open to the mundanity of mediocracy. A losing symbol in a world that equates greatness with worthiness.
Whatever happened to good enough?
I suppose that is why I am so fond of God. While he asks me to be good, he has always believed I am good enough. Of course, I didn’t always know that because I was too distracted with headlines on glossy magazines, books on bettering, and tried and true tips that felt like a tongue twister of tortured suggestions. Read more:http://mercymatters.net/2019/01/22/beauty-in-being-good-enough/ ... See MoreSee Less
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Some people believe we should do whatever it takes to make our dreams come true.
That perspective makes me tired. Or maybe I am tired and more likely to pursue sleeping dreams than the do-whatever-it-takes kind. While I would give anything for the people in my life, I can’t say the same for my pursuits.
I don’t lack ambition or commitment either. If anything, I am guilty of skepticism for thinking this mentality is part of the happily-ever-after notion of dreams hawked by Hollywood movie makers. But I am not really that cynical. I love people who are passionate about their goals. I admire the tenacity it takes to get to the proverbial there, to arrive, to live the dream. I love an underdog, a comeback story, and an against-the-odds fight.
I am just not sure I want to be one.
Somewhere between the dream and the reality is the cost of pursuit. Whether in commerce or in life, we all have a price we are willing to pay to get what we want. Not all of us are willing to personify Rocky Balboa for the sake of our dreams no matter how much we admire a steely resolve to persevere and a cool moniker like “Italian Stallion.” READ MORE: mercymatters.net/2019/01/15/cost-of-a-dream/ ... See MoreSee Less
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I have always loved that song by Journey, “Don’t Stop Believin.” It bugs me that they left the letter “g” off of the word believing, but other than that the song inspires me with such hope.
It is important to keep believing regardless of the reality of our circumstances. Sometimes all we have is our faith, our belief that things will get better, change, that others will -- that we, ourselves, will. You have to keep that in life, that belief that is hope. “Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us,” (Romans 5:5).
The world is imperfect with misspelled words and misaligned priorities, but hope is perfect. Don’t stop believin(g) no matter where your journey takes you. Always there is hope. ... See MoreSee Less
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Often, I feel like Queen Elsa in the 2013 Disney film, Frozen, with let it go repeating in my head like a scratched record or a warped mix tape warbling words of what has got to be the greatest three-word sentences in the history of ice queens.
Let it go.
Life can feel like an avalanche of situations outside of our control. Other than our reaction to things, we don’t get a say in much. Of course, that doesn’t mean we don’t have much to say, only that we don’t get to decide who listens, cares, or jams earbuds in their earholes when we speak. Despite my awareness of how much I need to let go of Every. Single. Day. I don’t want life to be merely a series of reactions to outside events. I want to be deliberate about what I let go of and what I strive to change.
Long before Elsa retreated to the ice castle, there was American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, who wrote the Serenity Prayer. I know he wasn’t royalty, didn’t have a 3-centimeter waist, and couldn’t turn people to ice with the flick of his wrist, but he did write a pretty good prayer.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change:
As far as I am concerned, Mr. Niebuhr could have stopped writing at serenity. What a beautiful word. It makes me thinks of scented bubble baths, sunsets on the beach, and a cloud of soft-serve ice-cream that looks like Olaf without the carrot nose.
Trying to accept what we cannot change feels like none of that. Instead, it feels like wrestling, wrangling, and wearing ourselves into a state of exhaustion. We think we can pick and choose, negotiate and mitigate, and purchase and plunder into getting what we want. But sometimes, we have to face the cold grip of truth: there are things we cannot change.
Accepting the will of God in our lives doesn’t have to be a frosty experience. Read more here: mercymatters.net/2019/01/08/the-serenity-prayer-and-the-ice-queen/ ... See MoreSee Less
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Today is my first day back in reality. I spent part of last week in Cumberland Island celebrating my 21st wedding anniversary. The South Georgia barrier island makes 21st living seem lifetimes away. White beaches stretch for miles without another person in sight. We road bikes for hours with no real destination and listened to the whisper sounds of nature as if for the first time. I smelled the dampness of decaying leaves while the sunshine warmed me with its regal rays. I felt as free as the wild horses that roam the island and as oblivious as the armadillos who wobbled about with abandon.
In a world where everything is a commodity, it was such a gift to experience the priceless value of the natural world in tandem with the man who centers mine. Grateful to the God who created it all. Even grateful to be back here in reality, where the promise of a new year awaits.
May your year be filled with such light and love that even wild horses couldn’t drag you away. ... See MoreSee Less
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