When we have realistic expectations, we can build resilience and an internal wisdom that is gentle with our humanity. We can grace ourselves and others when there is a failure to meet expectations. What caused the breakdown? Was it a genetic weakness? The piling up of expectations? Lack of sleep, […]
boundaries
60 posts
How can you know when you have truly forgiven someone? What is the difference between true forgiveness and simply stuffing your feelings down or sweeping them under the rug? It is tempting for Christians to try to forgive quickly in order to ease their minds and resolve the conflict. How […]
Harsh words and rough hands can abuse but are we meant to turn the other cheek and accept the abuse. No, we are to grow in dignity. She had given into the bully 365 times too many. She had been cheek-slapped all of the marriage. For him, he had accepted […]
I love watching those ‘Mission Impossible’ shows. The script takes you to places where you wonder how this ‘Mission Impossible’ will be resolved because if it isn’t, then the whole city is going to be destroyed in a nuclear explosion. I have met people who live in the shadow of […]
After years of teaching high school in downtown Los Angeles, my wife accepted a job four hours away. On top of my daily stressors of dealing with students and colleagues and deadlines at the school, I now moved to a tiny studio apartment, commuted to see my wife on weekends, and […]
Sometimes the knife of life drives right to the core of your being. It wrenches around till your bleeding in grief. Your speechless in shock, numb in movement and it feels like the very essence of life has been sucked out of you. You mourn because there is no other worthy […]
I need space. I could put this another way in that my ‘I’ needs space. I need space away from all the pressures of life. As I begin to write this, I am sitting in my truck on the way to work. It is dark outside, but I am alone and enjoying […]
They had crossed a line with me. Boundaries walked over. A line of the heart had been crossed. I felt so hurt and offended that they would be so disrespectful to me. It felt like there was no love or respect in their hearts for me by what they had […]
I struggle with the word ‘Boundary.’ Not because I don’t believe in the concept of boundaries or because I don’t think they are important. It’s just that the word ‘Boundary’ doesn’t convey any sense of relationship value. The word ‘boundary’ feels like it’s all about the one making the boundary […]
Sometimes you have to have the hard talk with someone about unacceptable behavior in a meeting. It may be a church service, a bible study, even just having a one to one talk with someone and you are interrupted. They might have been talking out loud to a friend while everyone […]