Grit vs. Grace

/
Grit vs. Grace

Living in the Mountain West, we happily host nearly 25 million visitors per year from around the world.  Tourists use their vacations to come admire the beauty of our landscapes and wildernesses.  Boasting 5 national parks and 14 ski areas, along with scenic byways, Utah’s monumental cliffs, red rocks, canyons and mountains are some of the most unique and stunning views you’ll ever see.

 

But you know how it is.  If it’s in your own back yard, you are often guilty of not exploring it.  Like the man I met at church in Kauai, Hawaii who admitted to me that he hadn’t even been down to the beach in over 5 years!

Read More

3 Times That Sacrifice is Actually a Gift

/
3 Times That Sacrifice is Actually a Gift

On a road trip with my youngest son, we were listening to the audiobook of Corrie Ten Boom’s incredible WWII memoir, The Hiding Place. One of her stories triggered a memory in me and I pushed pause on the stereo to tell my boy a story of personal sacrifice that daily affects his life.

My grandmother was single most of her life. She raised her five children while teaching elementary school, and supplemented her income by giving piano lessons after school until it was time for dinner. She would then feed her family, clean the house, do the laundry, and prepare for a repeat the next day.

Read More

Keep Your Ear to the Ground

/
Keep Your Ear to the Ground

A recent yoga practice ended with me sitting on my knees, my forehead resting on the mat.

Soon I wiggled my legs out from underneath and lay on my stomach, with my ear to the ground in a corpse pose. What a relief to be done.

The family was out of the house, and I deserved a cat nap for my efforts.

I didn’t get one. Just as I started to doze, the air conditioning unit clicked on under my ear.

Then I heard a shower start up and water began trickling down the pipes. (What? I thought everyone was gone!)

Read More

49 Lessons Learned in 49 Years

/
49 Lessons Learned in 49 Years

Birthdays.  I’m kind of getting over them.  There’s really nothing I need, and nothing the family needs to try to surprise me with.

So this year, I thought about this annual milestone differently. 

“Now that I’m in my 50th year, what exactly have I contributed to the world in that time? What have I learned from the world in that time?”

Read More

We Can Borrow More Than Clothes From Our Sisters

/
We Can Borrow More Than Clothes From Our Sisters

God granted me one little sister.  We started out best friends.  Then I grew up and she became an annoyance.  Then I grew some more and we became best friends again.

In high school I remember being jealous of how smart she was.  She was invited to be in the gifted program, and I wasn’t even sure where the gifted kids met!

She had a sense of style and an eye for beauty.  I’d turn up my nose at some outfit she had purchased, then would sheepishly end up borrowing it every chance I got because it just had that cool factor.

Read More

Five Ways Autopilot Promotes Sanity

/
Five Ways Autopilot Promotes Sanity

We’ve all seen the movie scene where a dashing airline pilot reenters the cockpit after strategizing with his crew or handling a disturbance between passengers.  He finds all is in order and the plane seems to be magically, peacefully flying itself.

I used to think… “Goodness, I wish I had a car that could do that.”  But with that being more of a reality than a Jetsons-like dream, I’ve advanced my wishing for an autopilot mode in life.

Read More

Losing Truth and Light

/
Losing Truth and Light

In college one of my roommates painted a picture for me, so funny that even today I giggle each time I think of it.

She said that in one of her religion classes, the professor taught that any time we knowingly sin, or break a rule, we will lose truth and light in our lives.

One of the rules on our campus was to use the sidewalks.  We were never to cut across the lawns in our hurry to get to class. 

Read More