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

  I’m not a giant among men or women. I’m simple to be honest. I prefer books over people. I love to cook, but I’m not a chef.  I love taking photographs, but I’ll never be a photographer. I’m a happy person. But I know sadness. She comes to call every now and again. And if you asked me to pick up a 100-pound sack, I’d give it my best shot. But the truth is I’d fail. Miserably.   Through the years, though, I’ve learned something about being strong. It’s full of shortcomings. Real personal strength comes from somewhere other than the physical world. We find it on a spiritual plain. No one leaves this world without enduring pain or disappointment. We all experience weakness. But encountering sickness, let-downs or defeat isn’t failure. Quite the opposite actually. Strength doesn’t come from winning; it comes from learning to fail gracefully.    See, when we truly find strength she comes from a deeper place, flowing through us, pouring out of us seamlessl...

  “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...

“I do not understand this mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.” ~ Anne Lamott I don’t know about you but I’m fairly tickled pink Jesus has never said to me, “This is the last straw missy. The absolute last time I’m going to put you back together again Christie.” I can assure you if anyone is going to test His patience it’s me. I have always had a need to learn things on my own, the hard way even. I can be rather stubborn, headstrong and of course strong-willed to boot. No real surprise there, right? I’m a redhead for goodness gracious sake. What do you expect? After all Pippi Longstocking was my role model back in the day. She was a bit of spitfire if I do say so myself. Reminiscing a little bit I remember this one particular day as a little girl that didn’t quite go as planned. I was about 3 or 4 years old and we were living in Germany at the time. I stood outside our military quarters watching all my friends cross the str...

“Lying won’t erase the truth, it can only delay it’s discovery.” ~Unknown I realize I talk a lot about my growing up years. My daddy called me Motor Mouth as a little girl. So yes, I talk a lot. And I write a lot too. I suppose that’s largely due to my upbringing. I've had quite the adventures if I do say so myself. My childhood was full of up and at 'em kind of days. Memories, I sopped up like a biscuit to gravy to be honest. And for a writer that's never a bad thing. I’ve certainly enjoyed my share of interesting humdingers along the way, that’s for sure. I can’t say I haven’t seen the world because I have. I’ve lived all around the globe and across this amazing country I call home. I’ve climbed mountains, sailed oceans, laid my eyes upon many of the world’s greatest wonders, danced inside castles and listened to symphonies within beautiful, old and historic halls. I’m blessed, that’s for sure. By God’s grace and my parents adventurous spirits, I’ve spent most...

"Do not tame the wolf inside you just because you've met someone who doesn't have the courage to handle you." ~ Bella Estreller When you look into the mirror what do you see? Are you hard on yourself, pushing yourself to be better, to do more, to be enough? Do you think you should be skinnier, fuller, do you want straight hair, curly hair, a smaller nose, bigger eyes or maybe you simply wish you were taller or even shorter? Being honest, that's probably most of us. We all feel we're lacking, invisible or too visible at some point in our lives. Some of us choose to fight our battles privately, while others do so publicly. Many of us feel we can hide our insecurities, while others wear them on their sleeves. My question today is , do you know you're enough? I'm not talking about being conceited, of thinking you're the cat's meow, talking bad about others when they have no way of defending themselves or making someone else look bad in or...

"Today I decided to forgive you. Not because you apologized, or because you acknowledged the pain that you caused me,but because my soul deserves peace." ~ Najwa Zebian Forgiveness is not something that comes easy. In fact forgetting can be just as hard. Beginning again, well to accomplish this we have to be ready and willing to leave our baggage behind at the train station, ALL of it . That ain't easy is it? I don't know about you but I know myself,  and walking away gracefully isn't always in my demeanor nor part of my disposition. I may be graceful, but I'm a southern woman. No one pushes around a southern woman, that's for certain. The other thing about a southern woman, good or bad is she has the uncanny ability to put you in your place with a smile on her face and a gleam in her eyes all while words of sugar drip from her lips. Now the truth is my emotions get the best of me sometimes and my tongue too. But let me make this very clear I...

"Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters." ~ Dau Voire Looking at the picture above of my boys, you could assume a lack of communication at our table. You could look at this simple photo and think you're observation was accurate but the truth is you'd be terribly incorrect. Sure Joshua is on his phone and Micah presumably looks like he's hiding behind a menu. Both are true statements but neither are fully correct. What this picture doesn't show or express to the outsider not at the table is the candor actually going on between my son's. In reality, while both look preoccupied they are actually teasing one another all while deciding on what to order. They had the whole table in a fit of laughter to be honest. This is the thing about communication, you have to be actively involved, participating in the moment to contribute to the conversation or it's purely a premise and pure speculation you're fabricating to yourself as tru...

"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 ...