It takes grit to make it through life. Grit is more than an idea. It’s a practice that can be applied every day, especially the tough ones. Once you know the recipe for grit, there’s nothing you can’t handle. Grit has many ingredients, but there are four main components: God, Resilience, Integrity, & Toughness. The…
Each month, a full moon hangs in the night sky. To most, this monthly occurrence isn’t noteworthy. Moons wax and wane without much acknowledgment. At our house, that isn’t the case. Not a month goes by without noticing the full moon. My father makes sure of it. Years ago, when my daughters were little, their…
We’re all familiar with the little, rotating circle in the center of our screens, which signifies a device is processing. Our patience gets tested when the command isn’t completed on demand. Often, we’re tempted to speed up the process by pushing buttons. The more buttons we push as the icon spins, the more of a…
Evergreen forests are home to a variety of pines. These needled trees retain their beautiful shades of green year-round. Their never-changing color makes them appear strong and healthy. Despite growing to soaring heights, pine trees are deceiving in their stature. Their strong branches can support a heavy snow load. But they can easily be uprooted…
Safety instructions offered by flight attendants before take-off are, for the most part, ignored. Their words are heard but not really listened to. The directions are to “Affix your oxygen mask first, before helping others. Even if the mask does not inflate, air is flowing.” Thankfully, most of us haven’t had to heed the warning,…
Do you remember laying in bed, frozen with fear as your imagination conjured up monsters under the bed? It didn’t matter that you couldn’t actually see the monster. The creature was as real as your hand, and threatened to grab hold of you at any moment. Falling asleep became practically impossible. Setting foot on the…
Everyone has a story to tell about a traumatic experience because there’s no escaping trauma. Trauma is a thread that connects people, as no human is immune to it. What trauma looks like is individual, but at the core is loss. Death, divorce, illness, natural disaster, and war are just some of the kinds of…