Perfectionism can be the sneakiest of beasts, bleeding not only the pages of our own stories but marring the chapters of our children and grandchildren's stories as well. Not long ago, I had the privilege of visiting a beautiful riding ranch for children with disabilities in northern Arkansas. This equestrian center is set up like a miniature western town, complete with a post office, general store and chapel. Children, and even adults, with a wide range of disabilities come each week for riding lessons and the results are nothing short of miraculous.  Riding, touching and working with the sweet horses…

I was sitting on a rumbling plane in Chicago, waiting for the painfully slow pilot to push us back from the gate. No one seemed to be in a hurry that morning. Not the airline nor the stewards. Even the ground controllers outside my window appeared to be dragging their feet. I blinked the grit from my eyes. I wasn’t faring much better. The stale air blowing through the circular vents overhead wasn’t helping. Everyone seemed sluggish…except for the four year boy seated behind me in 22 F. The squirming tyke with his high-pitched voice was chattering nonstop, barely stopping…

"Runt." "He'll never live." "He's so scrawny." I don't know what I did wrong. I was born, I guess. While all my brothers and sisters were cute, wriggly little pups, I was the outcast. Never expected to do much. To be much. At the pet store, the chubby, groping fingers of girls and boys would rove over all of our heads, scratching our ears, picking us up and snuggling their cheeks next to ours. Such happy feelings filled me, I couldn't help but lick their giggling faces with big swipes of my tongue. But eventually those happy feelings died as…

In his book Love Does, lawyer Bob Goff writes about a very important technique he uses, both inside the courtroom and as a way of life. He tells his clients when they are on the witness stand, there is a very strict rule they must adhere to: they must always keep their hands open, palms up. Why is this technique so important? I'm glad you asked. What is one of the first things we do when we're angry, stressed, enraged or overwhelmed? We clench our fists. It's our body's natural reaction when faced with conflict. It's almost as if by…

For the past several years, I've asked God to give me a word or phrase to meditate on during the course of the year. They usually revolve around an attribute of His, and boy, have I learned a lot by this practice. Last year's word was presence. I actively sought to put aside my to-do list to seek Jesus and His presence. Mary of Bethany is one of my favorite people in the Bible because whenever we read about her, she is found at Jesus' feet. That's how I want to live. I prayed about this year's word for weeks…

A stable foreshadowing a tomb. A weary girl trembling with fatigue and pain. A father with the weight of a new family pressing on his shoulders. A king gripped with fear that the Promised Child will be his undoing. And shepherds, their limbs trembling as angels announce a message that rocks their world to the core. Yet amidst these poignant images, the part of the Christmas story that touches my heart most deeply comes through the words of an aged man…Simeon. God has promised him that his eyes will not close in death until he physically sees the Messiah. As Joseph…