Hello again friends,Here we are. Another week under our ever-expanding belts (maybe I should speak for myself). Okay, so my belt is expanding but it feels good to have another week behind me. I have been taking my own wise counsel from last week and plugging into divine strength to get through all this. I am doing better this week, than last. …

I imagine most of us are trying to find our new normal during these trying times. Nothing could have really prepared us for this “shelter at home” quarantine. It’s not as if we had a drill to prepare us for anything like this. Many of us recall fire drills and earthquake drills from our school days. Sadly, more recently, now there are …

When I joined Hallmark Cards in the 80’s, I was excited. I felt I had landed a fun job. I mean, who doesn’t like “greeting cards”? I had spent many hours standing in card aisles, laughing at funny cards with snappy punch lines or getting emotional at the sappy ones. I loved cards. Now I was going to get paid …

The importance of vulnerability has been written about extensively by John and Henry over the years. Recently, Brene Brown ignited our imagination for the power of vulnerability through her books and Ted talks. These thought leaders have helped us see that we desperately need vulnerability; but doing vulnerability well is a challenge.  Our inability to be vulnerable leaves us in …

I Like William In the affluent Ivy League town of Princeton, New Jersey, someone like William tends to stick out from the crowd. William is sixty-seven years old, and, as is evident by his appearance, he has a disability. William has cerebral palsy. Our family had become aware of William because we’d see him riding around town on his scooter, …

Everyone has different reactions to the concept of “good enough”. Some laugh, some recoil, some are curious.  Good enough can feel like a cop-out, a license for mediocrity, or a recipe for disaster.   For most of us, good enough doesn’t compute, because we live in two gears:  it’s either “perfect” or a total “failure.” But, in reality, good enough has …

I did some time in Juvenile Hall and Prison. Prior to my time in these ‘penitentiaries’, I had spent thousands of hours engaging in personal and academic study, mentoring relationships, spiritual direction, deep and quality friendships in Christian communities, pastoral counseling, service to others, various discipleship efforts, my own therapy, reading quality books, and more. I was no stranger to …

Structure. It’s a word that evokes different emotions. Some people hear the word and relax. (After all, how could you get through life without structure?) Some try to deny its existence or necessity. (Those people need to relax!) We learn so many of life’s habits when we are growing up. I, personally, wasn’t raised with much structure and thought the …

What do you do when you experience strong emotions?  Do you react and regret it later?  Or do you try to downplay it and hope it goes away?  These are two common reaction to intense emotions.  The first reaction is an attempt to get relief from the from the emotion, which often results in negative consequences or the need to …

About 10 years ago, I noticed something puzzling about my relationships. It was subtle at first but as I began to tune in it became more apparent something wasn’t quite right. When I spent time with one friend, Ginger* I would feel tired by the time our visit ended, drained, like I needed a nap. When I spent time with …