Every major life event, every holiday, every milestone, every anniversary, every accomplishment or disappointment is followed by the day after, and what do you do with that?
“So, this was it I thought, no trumpets, no angels singing hallelujah, no bright light, no nothing,… she was just gone.”
One line, no explanation, no context from my upcoming memoir ‘Cowboys Are Not Supposed to Cry’
As this post goes live today, December 26, is the day after Christmas 2020 🎄and a week from now will the day after New Years Day 2021 🎉. Is it just me or do you experience pangs of melancholy during this supposed festive time of good will and frivolity?
So what can we do?
Pause – rest in the moments and let the world move on.
Anchor – revisit the memories and breathe in the feelings that come.
Believe – in hope for tomorrow until our journey through this life is done.
There are reasons to live There are reasons to die But the end’s not the end While you’re still alive
~The lyrics above are from the song ‘There Was a Life’ from the album Night Castle by Trans Siberian Orchestra. Tomorrow is coming, so with faith and hope go…
A simple, fascinating, and thought-provoking question I was recently asked during my conversation with Ronit @RonitPlank while recording an episode for her podcast And Then Everything Changed.
It really got me to thinking. An interesting question that is so easy to quickly fire off a yes or a no with little thought to why. It is so easy to respond with just a gut reaction to the question.
If we say YES, what are we proud of? Is it those moments, those events, those things we did or did not do? Who we have become or not become despite our circumstances?
And if we say NO, why are we not proud of ourselves? Did we fail when we expected to succeed, did we cause harm intentionally or not? Did we fail someone else or go back on a promise?
All deep questions that require some soul-searching. When asked I answered in the affirmative. I am proud of myself for persevering and overcoming so much in my journey through life. I have done the best I could with what I had and who I was at the time. And I will continue to do just that.
What about you? Give yourself some grace, life is hard. The choices are hard and we are all doing the best we can.
A little different post for Motivation Monday this week. I want to encourage parents, both fathers and mothers. This post is written from my perspective as a father, but it can apply to those moms who are parenting alone and filling both roles.
I hope every father had a great Fathers day. Now that the day set aside to be all about you is over, it’s time to get back to being the father your children need. Your influence and impact will either set them up for success or failure in life. You are their protector, comfort, soft place to land, compass, rock and shelter from the storm.
February 2020
For fathers of daughters, as I am, who you are as a man will influence how they view other men. How you love and treat them, how you love and treat their mother will impact their belief and trust in other men.
Fathers, show your daughters what a real man is, and how a real man treats a lady. #MotivationMonday #FathersDay #EverydayYouAreADad #HappyDayAfterFathersDay
“Think of the impact we would have if came alive as fathers. Your children will grow up and affect the lives of countless others and their children will go on and do the same. This ripple effect – this opportunity of compounding influence – has got to overwhelmingly dwarf whatever the majority of us may hope to accomplish at our jobs. Love your kids, men. Teach them to be strong, dedicated, focused, gentle, fierce, loyal.” - John Lovell, Warrior Poet Society
Love your kids, men. Teach them to be strong, dedicated, focused, gentle, fierce, loyal.” - John Lovell, Warrior Poet Society @johnlovell275
The original post below was written back in 2013 when my daughter was 7 1/2 years old. She is now 15 1/2 and the words are as true today as they were then.
A Grief Observed, as well as other books and writings, by CS Lewis have comforted, challenged and confirmed many of my own feelings at different times with their stark emotion and startling honesty. Almost thirty-five years and a vast ocean between two continents separated the experiences of Mr. Lewis and my own. We were at very different points on life’s continuum; Mr. Lewis was in his early sixties when his wife, Joy, died and me in my late twenties when my wife died.
However, the experiences of Mr. Lewis I read about are eerily similar to my own experiences. The feelings of pain, sorrow, guilt and eventually a measure of acceptance and healing that followed. Grief is a solitary road we must walk alone, however the words Mr. Lewis shared have always made me feel not quite so alone, especially during my own time of anguish and the dark night of my soul.
My hope is that my words, the things I share and put into the world can do the same for someone else. We are all sojourners here on earth and sorrow at one time or another will wrap its cold arms around us all and hold us close. In those moments, we need grace and mercy, for if my own experience is any indication in those dark times of guilt and pain there often vows and promises made that we are never meant to keep.
This is the first poem I wrote for the ‘New Beginnings’ poetry challenge sponsored by 451 Press Poets during the month of January from the prompt Breaking the Habits. The challenge was to write a poem a day inspired by the posted prompt.
Do we not all have habits we wish we could break? To truly break a habit we much replace it with something better. This poem speaks of the lies that we are told and how we need to replace them with truth. Remember that you matter, just believe that grace wins and hope lives!
They will try and tell you who and what to be.
