#BackyardDevo daily bread

Obligations

So, you made it through Monday, presumably... How many days have we wished away, that could have been significant in our life--or the life of another--if we had only "exerted ourselves," as Jane Austen so beautifully described it? So many things we know we should do--yet we don't. Yesterday, my husband traveled hundreds of miles for a 30-minute funeral, but I had encouraged him to go. It was important to the family, overall, but especially meaningful to the immediate family of his great uncle, who passed away. Many times in our lives, we have these opportunities. Sometimes we take them; sometimes we do not. I have found that I always regret NOT going, rather than the reverse. It made me think -- it's time to look at our social and familial obligations in a different way. Once I read something written by a life coach who encouraged the philosophy of taking each day more deliberately--especially in the way we verbalize it. Instead of "I have to go to the st

#INSUFFICIENT, Part 2: The underdog.

I think we all experience those moments when we feel like a big fat fraud (not intending to allude to my weight struggles, here, honestly). Those moments when you turn around from your accomplishments and accolades to face your fears and failures, and there you are--just a girl. Nobody special. The underdog. Long before King David was king, he was a ruddy little forgotten youngest brother. In 1 Samuel chapter 17, you can find an account of the day when the illustrious prophet arrived at Jesse's house to anoint the next king. One by one, Jesse proudly lined up his big, strong, handsome sons--educated, accomplished, well-trained for battle...if they had been sons in this day and age, the proud dad would have certainly had racks and racks of towering, gleaming trophies lining the walls of his man cave--scores of monuments to the big strapping boys' accomplishments. One by one, the prophet Samuel looked them over. One by one, he declared, "No, this is not the one."

Monday, Monday....

It's Monday, again, and in the afterglow of a weekend of wonderful worship and refreshing family fun, we plunge back into the doldrums of daily duties with revived enthusiasm. Then it hits--the feeling of dread, restlessness, irrelevance. However delightful and favorable your workplace may be, you're probably feeling it today--like a kid stomping back to school after a four-day weekend, sullen-faced, heavy-hearted, and distracted. Mom used to call it the "don't want-to's." Yes, that's it--don't want to be here, don't want to do this---"can't adult today," as my daughter, working her way through college, now says. The expression has come full circle, evolving into Millineal-ese, but the feeling equally familiar to us all. We all occasionally have a sense of not belonging--or at least, not belonging here , and it has little to do with situational discontent, especially after a break from your usual rolling mountain of duties. The

Thriving...in Spite of It

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