We make decisions all day, every day. Whether those decisions are the redundant routine things that fill up most of our days, or those decisions are the seminal moments that alter our lives for the rest of our lives. Some of the decisions that we make are conscious; choices that are the product of much time, rigorous thought, the balancing out of … [Read more...]
Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep – Mom and Dad’s Bedtime Prayer
It goes something like this, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. God bless Mommy, Daddy, Mark, Brett and Granny. Amen.” Simple. I recited that prayer thousands of times as kid. It comes to my memory today as clearly as it did those many thousands of … [Read more...]
The End – A Contradictory Idea
“The End.” There’s something definitively final about those two simple words. Those two, three letter words appear on the screen when the last words of the actors have fallen into an irretrievable silence and the screen has been swept barren of images. They pen an irrefutable and final ‘period’ on the last page of novels beyond which sentences … [Read more...]
A New Start – The Concept of a New Beginning
What would I do with a new start? I mean a really new, ‘new’ start? Not something that looks new because we’ve vigorously spit-shined something that’s old to a new luster. Not some radical make-over of something that’s radically old so that it looks convincingly new. Not a meticulous restoration that’s going to erase the footprints of time and … [Read more...]
Surviving the Holidays: Family and Friends
The holidays bring people together. Parties, various celebrations, innumerable gatherings of various kinds all present us with opportunities to warmly engage people we rarely see throughout much of the year. Indeed, it is a natural time of joining and rejoining. Yet, in all of the merriment and festivities, old issues are given renewed space and … [Read more...]
Surviving the Holidays: Memories
Speaking to Our Deepest Humanity Christmas and New Years are both rich with meaning and filled with ornate tradition. Christmas beautifully embodies and subsequently displays a desperately needed hope that something bigger is with us, that ‘God is with us’ despite how terribly difficult our journey might be, how terrifyingly lonely we so … [Read more...]
What we Worship – The Things We Bow Down to
Uniqueness – Not as License
In a culture that advocates for a broad array of freedoms, we sometimes struggle with understanding the appropriate parameters for the exercise of those freedoms. When we are presented with something new that we wish to explore, we may have a difficult time understanding how far we can explore this thing without impeding on the rights of others and … [Read more...]
Uniqueness – Looking Beyond Labels to See Strengths
Too often we label our “uniqueness” with other less than flattering adjectives such as “weird,” “odd,” “bizarre,” or something similar. Some expressions of uniqueness are done in less than wise and informed ways that may make themappear a bit questionable and therefore generate hurtful labels. These labels then can be inordinately diminishing in … [Read more...]
Trust – The Personal Characteristics that Build it Strong
If I take trust out of a relationship, I have effectively gutted that relationship to its death. Trust is an indispensable ingredient in relationships, regardless of the type or nature of the relationship. Without trust, we have absolutely nothing left. When it is gone our goal is not to rebuild the relationship, rather it is to rebuild trust so … [Read more...]
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Craig Lounsbrough
M. Div., LPC