FEAR FACTOR
At the beginning of my sophomore year in High School, my English teacher gave us a major assignment. We had to read a book, write a book report and give an oral presentation. She said that it would be a huge part of our grade. There was one small problem with this; I was too afraid to speak in front of any size group! I discussed this with my teacher, and she said that it was non-negotiable. I would have to do the oral part or fail the assignment and with my current grade (I had a […]
Fear Factor
Bitter or Better?
It was the bottom of the 9th inning, two outs, bases loaded, and the proverbial three – two count on the opposing team batter. If we made this last out, the championship game would go into extra innings! We were on a traveling baseball team playing at home, and at 16 years old, I’d never seen so many fans at a game before. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time. The batter hit an infield fly ball right to me. As if in horrifying slow motion, the ball hit the palm of my glove and rolled out […]
Rain Dance of Encouragement
We are experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades where we live. Everything is dry, brown, stunted and brittle. My front yard used to be green, vibrant and soft. On the weekends, I would go out barefoot and throw the football with my son. Walking on the grass used to be fun and energizing. Now we play in the street because I find it too depressing to feel the crunch of what can only be described as dry hay underfoot. All the plants, trees and flowers are learning to get by with little to no water. They are just […]
MANIFESTING PASSION
There are two ways we can live our lives, and both are based on our focus. The first way is focused on ourselves. The second way is focused on others. Our focus determines everything about our lives, and a focus on others can bring peace, fulfilment, happiness, mended relationships, and overall contentment. On the other hand, an internal focus can result in frustration, anger, bitterness, division, and discontentment. Although in writing everything looks simple, putting this into practice is the hard part! How do we change our focus in a consistent manner? Can we wake up one day and decide […]