To Serve well

Serving with Excellence for a Life of Excellence

Faith

The gifts of Easter

What does it mean to “have life” and “have it to the full?” This jumped out at me as if reading it for the first time this morning.

If I close my eyes and dwell on that for a moment, I see all that is bright, good, joyful. I see a day at the lake with family and friends. I see our college tribe laughing endlessly. I see my boys on soccer and lacrosse fields and, at this age, seeing their dreams come true after endless hours of studying. I see every post-holiday meal conversation in the living rooms of my grandparents, parents and sister. I see rollercoasters and oceans and the kindness of a door being opened for a young mom. I see an older couple, still nurturing and loving one another, hand in hand, despite those years that have not been filled with joy.

What do you see? What is a full life to you? I love this little girl running through a field. It’s freeing to stop and think about what a full life is, and even going so far as to contemplate what areas of life aren’t quite full right now.

My belief is that God sent his son to live and to die – and of course, the best part: to be resurrected – so that we truly could have life. As our creator, He knew our fragilities and had a plan for that. A plan, that despite what we have gone through, would mean that we would be able to find ourselves in communion with Him. And in doing so, we would find peace, joy, and outrageous and indescribable love. His desire is for us to live fully and bring forth all of the gifts and promises to us, and by using us to bring light to every conversation and to every person across the world.

Wherever this Easter Sunday finds you, know that you are loved beyond your comprehension. My prayer is that his promises fall fresh upon you today.

In the midst of a cultural reset: shifting to all that is strength

This incredible photo of an Osprey, is courtesy of @_thepaintedsky, aka Jessica Walker, who I happened upon via @annvoskamp’s unbelievably beautiful weekly blog, “Only the Good Stuff: Multivitamins for your Weekend”

This thought narrative of a “cultural reset” came from a post from Rebekah Lyons titled, “Look what we get to do together.” In the spirit of transparency, I needed more than anything this week to shift from bewilderment to my normal operating mode, which is, “what if? What is God working on? What am I to learn from where I am or we are right now, and how do I or we move ahead with bold and positive strength (of ideas, wisdom, peace)?” This idea has me right where I need to be right now, and I wonder if it might be beneficial for you as well. I feel like the universe is saying, “yep, that’s exactly what we need to do.” Shift. Advance to the next step.

This beautiful photograph led me on a trail to find out just what that bird was. The Osprey made its way into the books in 1460 and its name means “bird of prey.” This beautiful creature is an incredible fishing sportsman, catching a meal in at least 1 in every 4 dives. (Goodness, Audrie, why can’t I catch a fish after 100 casts of the line?) Their average time hunting is all of 12 minutes. They are, essentially, badasses. The Osprey also is agile, building nests on the tops of telephone poles and other manmade structures, which makes them unique. In my mind, they look around and see what is available, what is worthy and they make it their place – regardless of where it is.

I have a couple of thoughts stirring. First, as a human, we are at the top of the food chain (so to speak). In other words, God made us the original badasses. We have been given, and are given daily, all that we need. This is pure truth folks. You are strong, you are bold, you are outrageously capable of moving above the current situation and helping create solutions and generating positive energy and ideas that will help lift the human race. We all have a role, whether you are like my mom, hanging out in her retirement community lifting the spirits of others, or, like our team at work – on the front lines – caring for those that aren’t well and watching the news closely (and praying earnestly) so they know what step to take next.

Second, like the Osprey, we may need to look around and be ready to strike and to make it our place. I find such beauty in this. It’s simple. Look around. There is work to be done. Whether you find yourself in the quiet or in the middle of the chaos, God will make it clear where you can use your gifts or resources to move us out of this season. We need to lift our heads outside of our phones and television sets and insist that we acknowledge that we can do something. Even a child or a senior can spend an hour writing encouraging cards to healthcare workers and those in hospital beds that cannot see family right now. Insist that you and your family rise up. (A quick sidebar: One of our staff members and her family recently spent their night sorting scrubs for our front line providers and her children wrote notes to each of them. How cool is that?)

Folks, we ARE in a cultural shift. Our world will be changed after this. We will be talking about this for years – maybe decades. How it shifts is entirely up to us. My prayer is that we will SHIFT into a higher level of ourselves, to a higher awareness on what we can do together and that at the end we find ourselves loving each other better and stronger and even more than we ever have in our world’s history. This is our time to rise.

Step aside, fears: 5 ideas to pursue the good right now

I don’t normally write about faith, and specifically my belief in God, during the weekday posts, but given our current environment it feels important. Someone shared with me that in the Bible there are 366 references to “Do not Fear,” which for 2020, a leap year, is exactly 1 time for each day of the year. Isn’t that interesting?

I have to tell you, fear is real… At first I didn’t really like using that word, but I decided to look it up for the blog and I have to say this sort of resonates: an “unpleasant feeling, triggered by the perception of danger, real or imagined.” Triggered. That is exactly what is happening. And if you are like me, and have a hard time looking away from your phone when you are otherwise not detained by work, a conversation or head down in a project or good book…then you are constantly being triggered from all matter of sources. Sometimes it’s funny images that add levity to the situation, and other times it’s the gripping news coming from hot spots around the world. All said, we have to be careful with what we are feeding ourselves in order to maintain as much peace as is possible.

What approach or idea may be better? My pastor shared the message in the image above on Sunday (online), and it’s written in BOLD in my journal now. The note I wrote to myself is what’s most important to me… Just how do I best pursue that right now?

Pursue defined: To follow… to capture… to chase…  

I can visualize chasing JOY right now! In fact, CAPTURING it and holding it close at every turn. (Side note: To me, God is love and love is joy and pursuing God is in fact chasing after what He desires for us.)

How about some practical ideas on how we can do this? Here are 5, but it’s so much more fun for you all to share your ideas, so please do that below!

  • Make a commitment to sharing what is good and fun! Some of my team members made a game of sending selfies with our “masks” and that was great for bringing joy into the day. One of my college friends sent over pics of her car decorated for a parade her and the other teachers created to drive through their district neighborhoods. That is chasing joy! My son sent me our favorite Twitter feed today:
  • Set a firm limit on how much screen time you will allow yourself… Seriously.
  • Take advantage of this unexpected time. It is a gift. Extra time for your kids, for special projects, for dreaming up ways to serve others.
  • Pump up the music? What’s your all-time favorite band? Music genre (hello ’80s!)? Make a playlist, have a dance party, sing-along or whatever to get your mind moving in a positive direction…Allow yourself to feel the shift in energy.
  • Surround yourself with positive! Positive messages, positive people (you may need to call or reach out to your most positive friend, or the one who always makes you laugh). Be so intentional about this that every day you wake up, commit to pursuing the positive! 

Your turn!

I am praying for our world, our city and for each of you and for your families. You are all a blessing! Let’s pursue service, love and joy – and find our fears step aside.

Simple thoughts Sunday: What’s really important? Let’s “run” there!

Wow, what a week. With the election in full swing, COVID-19 speculation, and every day life rushing through, there seemed to be an onslaught of noise in the universe. I thought it may be me, but I have had enough people corroborate they’re feeling the same. (Maybe I should look up the moon phases…)

All of that led me to today’s short post. We are all set out to “run our race.” I have absolutely always loved this scripture. It conjures up thoughts of being strong, committed, and focused on winning in life. (Not that we always have to win, but I do think we should be all-out dedicated to bringing our best in every moment.) No matter what “noise” is in the world or in our heads, our focus should be on running really well. 

To me that looks like remembering to keep everything in perspective and to bringing our minds and actions back to our point of purpose. If we serve those who God has surrounded us with well, and we move toward the works God points us to, we will indeed be “running there” – or achieving our purpose.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Be insanely hopeful

Hope is an expectation.

I love the idea of being expectant. Being expectant of more sunshine and less gray skies; of unity instead of division; of love instead of fractured relationships; of optimal health and deep happiness; etc. In the Biblical sense of the word, hope constitutes a confident expectation that God’s promises will come to pass, and that you will indeed receive an answer to prayers and your desires will come to pass.

I love hope. I love insane hope even more. Insane is like, “Yes, this is absolutely going to happen. God is going to show off! He is going to outdo anything my creative mind may have imagined!” Imagine the feeling of barely being able to contain your joy. Can you feel it? “This family vacation isn’t just going to be just fun, but it is going to have a life-changing impact through the conversations we have and the commitment we make to being present.” “I am not just going to finish the race, the hike, the new health goal… I am going to NAIL IT- I am going to not just get by but feel strong and vibrant at the end…” Again, insane hope.

What is your insane hope? Where do you need to think bigger? To believe stronger? To expect great things to happen? What scenarios do you need an extra dose of hope in?

I can think of a few myself. I have always been a glass half-full kind of gal, but I have to be honest: I don’t generally think grand thoughts about what could be. I tend to take a realistic perspective. Perhaps sometimes even leaning into not creating false hopes … maybe I’ve taken that too far. As a girl of faith, I need to grow in this area. I have personally seen God show off, and I suppose that is reason enough to start to believe bigger! 

Let’s be insanely hopeful this week!

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Lean into the word

First of all, isn’t this image terrific? I could sooo use this scene. What about you?

Although today we have so many options to read, listen and receive the “word,” without a lot of intention and focus, diving in and really “leaning” in isn’t that easy. It should be, but let’s be honest — it’s not. Getting away to really soak it in would be fabulous.

One year at the family camp we always went to (shout out to Pine Cove), they had remodeled the rooms, and above my bed was a scripture that essentially said, “he’s got this… you can breathe… be still.” It disarmed me. The scripture reference allowed me to reset. As I went in and out of the room that week, it spoke to me and helped me realize that I often carry around things I really don’t need to.

We all need a reset. I find myself needing them more often as I get older. It never ceases to amaze me that the ancient texts of the Bible can magically point us into the direction we apparently needed to be pointed, and perhaps didn’t even realize.

I am going to do my best to “lean in” this week. If you are able to, let us all know if something stood out to you in the process. I think it just might be powerful.

Here are a few that I kind of love thinking about in the context of resetting.

“The Lord will fight for you; you need only be still.”

Exodus 14:14

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.”

Philippians 4:7

“This hope we have is an anchor of the soul. A hope both sure and steadfast.”

Hebrews 6:19

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Elevate the sparkle this week!

Who else is ready to “shake off” winter and bring on the sparkle of warmer days? That surely is a metaphor for life in general… Sometimes, we need to “shake” off a season and pray that God will provide some clear skies and brighter moments.

There is a great scripture that points us to the fact that God is pushing us toward sparkle toward a life fulfilled and joyful…

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:4

I’ve heard this read at weddings, and at other celebratory moments in life – those “sparkling” moments, if you will. It strikes me that we need “every day sparkle,” like the kind that happens on a cold winter day. The kind that shows up when a fun song hits the radio, throwing you back to your youth, when “adulting” hadn’t quite taken hold. The kind that makes you smile. We need this truth today.

Today’s simple thought is this: I am praying over each of you right now that God might remove any “yuck” and provide a path of clarity, richness and pure DELIGHT for you and those you love. I hope you will join me in elevating the SPARKLE this week.

Rewind! This is a throwback post that really spoke to me from 2019.

Black History month matters: A call for us all to take action

For some reason, It seems to me that I have always had a desire to “read up”, if you will, to better understand men and women who looked differently than I do. I’d like to say it came from hours around a dinner table of parents or grandparents that stressed the importance, and even made efforts to expose me, but that wouldn’t be true. At work this week, we were referencing the classic, “What you talkin’ ’bout, Willis,” line from the 1978-1985 iconic show, “Diff’rent Strokes,” so perhaps that is the genesis.

More than likely, however, is that some brilliant teacher planted a seed early on. (And that my friends is why we should all love and pay great respect to our teachers!).

Here’s the thing: While I have always had this desire, it continually seems to hit me in the face that I still don’t know enough. My efforts are good, but not acceptable – at least to me. It shouldn’t be the case that in America today that, at age 51 (almost 52), I am learning that Rosa Parks wasn’t the first to refuse to give up her seat on a bus. There were actually several before her – such as 15-year old Claudette Colvin, who was studying the great inequality injustice at the time, and opted for a bold move to make her point. I read her story just today. By the way, she also ended up in jail.

More grave is a story I learned two years ago, when my friend and mentor Tanesha, took me to a Black History event held at the University of Missouri Kansas City campus. Shocked, lump in your throat, disturbed…. all may be a good way to describe how I felt when finding out that of the 12.5 million Africans shipped to the New World via the Translantic Slave Trade, that fewer than 388,000 arrived in the United States. (According to PBS.com.) That means that over 12 million men, women, children… loving grandparents, respected community members… all died A tragic death during the journey. To put that in perspective, 6 million Jewish people were killed by Nazi Germany by the end of World War II and the Holocaust. (According to Guardian.com). It left me unraveled.

I hope that you knew this and that you have already made strides in using your influence to help us be better. If you didn’t, I hope this helps paint the picture that we need to work toward truly understanding the human experiences of our fellow countrymen/women. Society as a whole is impacted tremendously by history in many ways – psychologically, physiologically, socially, economically, etc. By studying and building awareness, even at the most cursory levels (although we shouldn’t stop there), we are able to move toward eradicating stereotypes, and improve society as a whole.

The founder of Black History Month, Carter G Woodson, considered his role was to use “black history and culture as a weapon in the struggle for racial uplift.” (Smithsonian Institute) That is a weapon we can all get behind. By 1916, he had established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and Culture with a goal of making black history accessible to a wider audience. In February of 1926, Black History Month launched in America. We might think that in 94 years we would have made such progress that this recognition wouldn’t be needed, however, the facts demonstrate this is not the case. Us American’s are a tough group. As the Smithsonian article I am referencing noted, “The chains of slavery are gone, but we are all not free.” The author’s final note describes slavery is an African American success story “because we found ways to survive, to preserve our culture and our families.” I appreciate that optimistic viewpoint.

I hope today’s blog offers you a bit of inspiration to do some research regardless of your race or background. I can assure you that it is worthy to always better understand those that God has placed to live this life out with us side by side. We are so much better together and beyond powerful when unified.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: The power of visualization

WOW! I love inspirational messages like this one that so directly deliver a game changing thought.

I’d like to think I SHOW UP AS MY HIGHEST SELF every day, but I am not sure I can say I do this in every area of my life. For example, do I really walk out how I want to “show up” physically? As in, athletically speaking? Ouch… I don’t think so. Maybe a “pretty good” version, but highest? Definitely not.

Let’s pull the plane up a bit and back into the question of what exactly does your highest self look like?

If I were hitting my stride in full force, what would my highest self look like on an ideal day? My wake up time? Meals? Physical activity? Productivity? Would I design art? Write something breathtaking? Breathe deeply and eat nutritious and beautiful meals? Who would I surround myself with? How would I elevate my mind? Would I be reading classic literature or listening to stunning music? How about my relationships? Am I investing my energy well?

This is such a worthwhile question.

I hope you will not only visualize your highest self, but write out what that looks like and move ever closer to that each and every day.

So much love for you all. Let’s make it a beautiful week… honoring ourselves and those God has placed in our path by showing up fully.

Rewind! This is Partially a throwback post to one from 2019 that was just speaking to me this weekend.

Simple Thoughts Sunday: Be God-struck, own your joy (A lesson from our own KC Chiefs!)

This super fun celebration photo on Instagram showcases pure joy and owning the moment. Did you know that God truly wants us to be explosive in our joy? I just love that. Sometimes I hear people say that the Bible is too serious and doesn’t apply to life as we know it in this generation. I have to challenge that because even Jesus, when he walked on earth, was a party-goer early and often. Dining with friends, family and community and celebrating in many scriptures. After all, he had a tremendous story to live out and it was worth a full expression of joy.

In Psalms, which is a great place to start if you haven’t ever dived into the Bible, there are so many references to this truth. I love Psalm 126, which helps us see joy played out. The best part is that it is not imposed joy. It is not for one person, it is not for the naturally joyful, but for all of us. It is found when our lives are tethered to God’s and a deep knowing that joy isn’t found in vacations, new clothes, the latest technology… or whatever we like to think will fill us up.

I love that Patrick Mahomes and other team members realize this and use their platform in a humble way. Patrick has not been shy about sharing his faith, and has been clear that he’s not putting on a show for Chiefs Kingdom, but that he’s playing for God.

“Obviously I want to win every game, but I’m glorifying Him every single time I’m out there,” he said this week on the road to Miami. His ability to bring this energy to the team and to a world-wide stage is beyond powerful. I for one, absolutely love that he is able to be both God struck and joyful, both in the grit and the glory.

I believe we should all play out our days with that exact mentality and focus. In fact, I’m praying right now that we will do just that! Let’s bring our best self to every project, conversation and effort and be God-struck and own our own joy along the way!