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When He (Jesus) entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him and appealed to Him, saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering dreadfully.”   Matthew 8:5-6

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In this story of the centurion asking Jesus to cure his servant, our focus is typically on the centurion’s faith that Jesus need “only say the word and his servant will be healed.” Without a doubt, the centurion’s faith is noble and inspiring, something we all need to aspire to as we echo these words right before receiving Communion.

However, upon closer inspection, we learn the centurion is noble in other ways too, Despite the fact that his servants must obey his orders, this centurion is compassionate and caring for those under his command. He doesn’t ask: “Cure my servant so he can do more work for me.” He asks Jesus to cure his servant because his servant is “suffering dreadfully.”

For those of us who are parents, supervisors, or managers, we could learn a thing or two about leadership from this man. Although he demands respect and obedience from those under him, he also demands compassion and respect from himself. Continue reading →

And let people learn to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs, so that they may not be unproductive.   Titus 3:14

My in-laws came to visit a few weeks ago. That Sunday morning, we made last minute plans that had us scurrying to get to an earlier Mass. In the chaos, I was the last one down to the car.

To my sheer and utter horror, I saw my thirteen-year-old son, Mason, bucked into the front passenger seat, while his 82-year-old grandfather was making his way to another spot. In my mortification, I tried to hustle Mason out of the front seat to make room for my father-in-law, but the damage had been done. My father-in-law had already side-shuffled through that little space between all the buckets of outdoor toys stored next to the garage wall and the mini-van to get to the middle row. Getting him to shuffle back was too much to ask.

On the drive to church, I kept asking myself where I went wrong, and what other lessons and manners I’d failed to teach my kids. I really thought I’d covered all the bases and taught my kids well. A wave of overwhelming defeat washed over me.

There’s no better place to bring your sense of failure than to God in church. As I prayed my way through the scenario, again and again, He helped me see things differently. Continue reading →

On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. Psalm 62:7

Over the summer, Mason saved up his birthday money, and even ran a lemonade stand, to buy a virtual reality gaming system (VR). He’s been pestering me to try it ever since.

I am SO not a video game girl. Plus, I feared getting vertigo from having a screen strapped to my face with intense images flashing just inches from my eyes. But motherhood means moving beyond ourselves and being interested in what our kids are interested in, or at least pretending to be. I finally bit the bullet and let him suite me up. Continue reading →

You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.   Ephesians 4:22-24

While on vacation this summer, amidst our very busy itinerary, there was one morning when I was able to take some time to myself and recharge. As I sat on the balcony of our hotel, sipping coffee, reading my Bible and looking out at the mountains of Wyoming, peace settled in.

Then I looked right and saw a dead bee trapped in the screen of our hotel window.  Continue reading →

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”  Romans 8:26

Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll confirm that I resisted getting an iPhone with all my might! Up until a year ago, I had a fancy, blue, slide-out phone that I loved and showed off with pride, regardless of everyone who laughed at me. But wanting to further my writing career meant I had to join the social media game, and the rest is history.

Now that I have a new fangled iPhone, I recently discovered GIFs. And, oh what fun they are! I decided using them was going to be my “thing,” my signature response to text messages, instead of words. It’s proving to be more complicated than I thought. Continue reading →

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Remember then the Lord, your God, for He is the one who gives you the power to get wealth…   Deuteronomy 8:18

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It’s so hard to measure our progress in motherhood, especially when our kids are young. That’s one of the major reasons I’m so to-do list oriented: It gives me some sense of achievement in an otherwise chaotic day.

But as I spiral down into the state of too-much-on-my-plate between work and home, I’m having to redefine my definition of success. Continue reading →

But Herod said, “John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.   Luke 9:9

My husband was showing my kids some Bugs Bunny episodes on YouTube recently. When he showed them the one about the man who finds a singing frog, I was transported back to childhood, but not in a good way. The extreme frustration I’d felt then came back in full force as I watched the man try to show others how the frog could sing. Anytime anyone but the man was around, the frog would just “ribbit.” Yet the second they left, the frog would stand up and belt out a show tune. Over and over again this happened; Over and over again, my frustration grew right along with the man’s. Continue reading →

We do not keep them from our children; we recount them to the next generation. The praiseworthy deeds of the Lord and His strength, the wonders that He performed.    Psalm 78:4

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I’ve been a huge fan of the devotional Living Faith for years. There’s always some gem in the daily reflections that transforms how I view God and life, in all the right ways.

Recently, it was editor Terence Hegarty’s reflection from September 12th that impacted me deeply. In it, he shared some of his rules for raising his children. Rule #4 was: “Read them stories, especially at bed time. When they are older, tell them your story.”

It got me questioning how much of my story I’ve told my kids. Continue reading →

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8

We went to see the movie “The Peanut Butter Falcon” last weekend. If you haven’t seen it yet, run to the theatre! It was excellent!

In it, Zach, a young Down Syndrome man (played by an actor with Down Syndrome), breaks out of his institution to go to a wrestling camp. He then meets a guy named Tyler who is battling his own demons. The two pair up and become traveling companions.

Although this movie pulls at your heart strings constantly, the crossing-the-river scene is what had my heart rate spiking. Zach can’t swim.

Thinking outside the box, Tyler inflates a pair of pants and a trash bag for Zach to float on. He then ties a rope connecting himself to Zach.

Sure enough, as Tyler is swimming and pulling Zach on this long rope behind him, a boat comes zooming down the river, heading straight for them. If Tyler doesn’t swim for his life, the boat will cut the rope in two and Zach will lose his. Continue reading →

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Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  Isaiah 43:18-19

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All across the country, school is back in full swing. Our kids carry clean notebooks and refreshed minds, ready to be filled with new knowledge.

Back at home, however, all we moms have is the leftover mess of summer. Yes, we feel glee and relief as the bus pulls away with our noisy kids. But we don’t necessarily feel excited about the new school year. The only new thing for us is the chaos of adjusting to a new routine.

That’s when envy sets in: Envy for all our kids get to learn, all the experiences they have yet to live, and the endless potential of who they can become. That loop runs incessantly in our minds as we wipe sticky goo off the counter, scrub dirty toilets, and fold eighteen loads of laundry.

Then the words of Isaiah 43:18-19 whisper across our minds. Continue reading →