Brave Heart, Brave Soul. She who is brave is free.

  “I think as you grow older your Christmas list gets shorter, because the things you want can’t be bought.”  ~Unknown    I’ve always loved the winter season, especially during Christmas time. As a little girl I’d bounce around the house with joy and curiosity watching my mom decorate. Hanging stockings, stringing lights around the tree all while listening to Christmas music fill the house. I’d dance in delight with the smell of cookies coming from the kitchen and the perfectly wrapped gifts piling up under the tree.  I remember waiting eagerly for each and every Christmas special. Everything felt magical. My excitement and enthusiasm built until Christmas day finally arrived.  As children, this time of year is wondrous and many times mesmerizing too. But as we become adults, Christmas can become complicated, burdensome even. It’s not that the magic is gone. We’re simply aware of life’s complexities. We carry stress and anxiety and at times feel more awkwar...

    I’ve been grappling with what’s around the corner lately. In fact, I’ve been thinking a lot about this subject. Pondering where I’ve been and where I’m going. What I could have done differently. What I can change. Some days I have a pretty good idea. Others I have no clue. But what I do know is this: I've lived a full, imperfect life. I’ve been bold, loved fiercely and unconditionally. I’ve definitely made hundreds of beautiful memories along with a good number of painful ones too.      Yes, I’ve made mistakes. Lots of them. Horrible and excruciating ones. I’ve fallen flat on my face. Landed on my butt. Are there moments I’d like to do over? Of course, certainly there are. But I have no regrets. Everything in my life has happened for a reason. Every step has led me to where I am. Every slip-up and blunder has been a teacher.      I have faults. Many of them. I’m lacking in more ways than one. I’ve been completely in the wrong and to...

  “Freedom is not about the size of your cage or the power of your wings or the non-attachment to a person or a thing. Freedom is about being so truly, madly and deeply attached to your own soul that you can’t bear – if only for a moment – a life that doesn’t honor it.” ~ Andrea Balt    Maybe it’s the fact I’m growing older. Or maybe I’ve just gained some accidental wisdom with my older age. Who knows exactly how or why? It’s an age-old question. Did the chicken come before the egg or the egg before the chicken?  Pun intended, either way, I’ve aged. I’m gray-haired with multiple lines showing across my face. I’m not the vulnerable young woman I was once.  But I’m not yet past my prime. Though I’m absolutely not a spring chicken anymore either.  I don’t know when it happened. But it did. One day I woke up and everything was different. My hands had creases. My red hair wasn't so red anymore. My eyes didn’t glimmer quite as much as they used to. And yes, I fel...

  “Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been,“ ~ David Bowie There’s no denying it. I’m getting older. I have wrinkles, creases around my face and stiff joints. Oh, and what about the bruises I can’t remember happening. Or that limp when I get up. And yes, I absolutely make lists for my lists. I forget names, dates, times and places. Not to mention where I’ve left my phone these days. Let’s face it, my memory isn’t as detailed as it used to be. My idea of a fun weekend is a night at home, on the couch, with the hubby and our dogs binge-watching this, that and the other. And while I’d like to say the gray in my hair is fashion forward. It’s not. Wisdom is negotiable. Age is not.    Mostly, I’m just thankful for today. Bruises, scars, hiccups and all. I think most of us in our 40s and above feel the same. We’ve got a bit of experience under our belts at this point. All those life lessons that scratched and scraped us up m...

“Half time goes by, suddenly you're wise. Another blink of an eye, 67 is gone. The sun is getting high. We’re moving on.”  ~100 Years/ Five For Fighting  From the moment we’re born each of us is aging. Every minute we’re breathing we’re getting older. One day closer to moving on, right? Now, most of us don’t stop and think about getting old. At least not while we’re young anyway. As we slow down and the double digits pile up, getting older becomes more of a reality than a possibility one day.  As children we rarely think about our parents' age. Or the fact that they might not be there one day. We think they'll live forever. They’re rocks. Always there. Steadfast, never wavering. Our parents are the steady force behind us. Pushing us forward. Believing in our dreams. Building us up. Encouraging us and always proud of who we are becoming. They give us our names. As children they tell us stories and sing to us when we're scared. Tuck us in at night. Turn the night light on...

"It's not what's under the tree that matters. It's who's gathered around it." ~ Anonymous So Christmas is almost here. School's out, the malls are full, ugly sweaters are back in style and admit it, you're singing along to the sounds of the season on the radio. Our tables are filling up, our trees are lit and prime real estate under the tree is not only at minimum but almost impossible to find the closer we get to Santa's big day. And with all that fun, also comes the stress and worry.This year our family has taken a new approach to celebrating this season of merriness and shall I be honest, should I dare say it, of anxiety and pressure. So what is our new technique, it's simple, it's a little something called slowing down and actually being merry and bright, not stressed and strained. As Christmas began descending into our household following Thanksgiving I began taking inventory of the little things, and soon I was reassessing ...

One of my absolute favorite songs by Michael Buble bellows out, “It’s a new dawn. It’s a new day. It’s a new life. And I’m feeling good.” This song simply makes me feel good. It seems like he has no worries and is living the good life right? So what is the good life and how do we find it?  Is it something handed out by the spoonful’s or is it something we create with love, develop with patience and fashion with joy? The truth is we don’t just find the good life, we have to make it. Happiness and goodness are not things just dropped into our lap. A good life, a happy life is something we choose in spite of difficulties. Just as we choose kindness, we choose happiness.  One Repulic’s lyrics boast of the good life, “This has gotta be the good life.”  But how do you suppose they got there? I can tell you, they worked for it, created it, and forged it. That’s exactly how we can too. Happiness it’s not just merriment, happiness is also contentment. If we spend all o...

Expectations can sure get us into a lot of trouble, can’t they? If you have any doubts, look no further than yours truly. I have spent most of my life expecting way too much and sorting out the consequences later. It’s not as if I don’t know what I’m setting myself up for, because I usually do, but for whatever inherent reason I still take that detour. I’m always full of good intentions. I set out with a decent enough plan, a highlighted map through the back roads, and yet somehow my navigation skills just don’t seem to add up most of the time. My own eagerness, expectancy, presumptions and conjecture seem to always land me in the deep end of the ocean. I should be used to it by now. I surely should have learned to keep an inflatable life vest in my back pocket, that’s for certain. Yet to my own surprise I’m usually flopping around, treading water, drowning in a sea of self-doubt. I’m a walking contradiction, a beautiful if not deafening complicated mess. I’m assuredly a complex, ...

I remember a while back, I asked my counselor why God was allowing so many hurts to pile up so close together in my life. Do you know what she told me? "Boundaries Christina, it's all about boundaries." Let's just let that sink in for a moment. I know I had to. The truth is I have lived my entire life trying to please everyone. The reality, it is clearly impossible, and simply never ends well. Honestly, this is probably the hardest, most miserable life lesson I have ever had to learn. A lesson you can be certain inevitably pushed me through a barrier, over a cliff and to the bottom of a ravine.  The moment leading up to my hallelujah, come to Jesus meeting got it's first start some 19 months ago. Life at the time wasn't bad; in fact it seemed pretty good to me. As with any typical month in our household, we had our ups and downs. Sure I knew life wasn't full of gumdrops and lollipops, but life wasn't exactly sinkholes and tar pits either. I ha...