Change Mapping

11/23/2024

Someone may need to hear this today...

💙💙💙https://www.instagram.com/reel/C8PQN83ORzJ/?igsh=ZHRmcHpiNG94cHI4

10/30/2024

Today, I spent hours at the base of a few trees on my property, trees I’ve passed countless times before. These trees had trunks wrapped in chain-link fencing, put there long ago, likely to protect them as they grew. But what struck me today was that this same protective fencing was now cutting into the bark, biting into the trunks as the trees outgrew the very thing meant to shield them. The once-beneficial guard had become restrictive, leaving scars as the trees pushed against it to keep growing.

I couldn’t help but see a reflection of our own lives in these trees. How often do we wrap ourselves in layers—ideas, habits, people, or roles—that once served to protect us? As we grow, these protective layers can sometimes become restrictive, keeping us from moving forward and leaving marks on us in ways we don’t always see. Just like these trees, we too can become bound by the very things that once kept us safe, even if now they hinder us from becoming who we’re meant to be.

As I sat there, carefully cutting and unwinding the fence from around each trunk, I felt an unexpected swell of emotion. Tears came as I freed the trees from their bonds, seeing firsthand the scars they had carried and knowing that I, too, have my own marks left from my “protections.” After releasing them, I felt compelled to embrace each tree, thanking them for the powerful reminder and apologizing for the hurt that this well-intentioned barrier had caused them.

Nature has a way of teaching us lessons if we pause long enough to look. Today, these trees reminded me of the importance of letting go, of allowing ourselves to grow unbound, and of tending to our scars with gentleness.

08/04/2022

Zephaniah 3:17... "He will quiet you by His love" ...
Isn't that just such a breath of calm... When we search for love it seems that it should be loud, it should maybe announce itself when it comes into the room... but love whispers, love is in the being, not the doing... love is in the quiet of transformation, love is what can unknot us and smooth out our edges. It is because of love that we have grace and it is why we owe grace to each other... Love is a simple gift of now and yes and Amen.

It is such a lovely perspective shift to see love, every type of love, as being"... of course, there is upkeep in all relationships - the doing - but the "being" is sometimes very quiet". The hurry and the striving can make us bypass the now for the next... and that striving, that hurry, that product-oriented love can make us hurt and miss the grace of the amen in each moment.

06/18/2022

Silence surrounds us like a promise... a quiet reminder that we are known in all our hidden places, our covered up moments, our hide-and-seek conversations we only have with ourselves.
And... YHWH, is the sound of our own breath. The love, in that still quiet place where our heart and head meet our own soul. We are loved right now, right in our own messy, noisy, trying to figure it out loudness. We can be still and quiet... and in the immense depth of seeking... we are found...

06/18/2022

After watching the movie "Collateral Beauty"
A line, the main premise, stuck with me...

"Just be sure to notice the collateral beauty "

This is so applicable now,... In these days of division, divisiveness, anger, walls, differences, and misunderstanding... There is also Collateral Beauty.....

It's all around us, growing like bold daffodils poking out from beneath spring snow... It's like tulips that were dug up last spring by busy squirrels and hidden deep beneath the ground only to pop up and bloom in a completely different spot from where they were planted. It's like the waves that uncover a beautiful abalone shell, or a heart-shaped stone, just sitting there beneath the surf until a wave brings them in.

We cannot afford to miss these moments of "Collateral Beauty" that are still all around us...

People join together to raise up kindness, people meeting each other in their stories of sameness and shared understanding. People who choose to see that even though we're different, we are all on a path of love, of time, of death, of perspective... EVERYTHING in between matters. We are ALL beating hearts... Walking toward each other - longing to be known, to be BELOVED.

When we see each other as love, as beautiful, as beloved.. instead of watching and focusing on the collateral damage... Of which right now... There is so very much.

How about instead...

We breathe... We soften... We see all the Collateral Beauty because isn't that just so much better?

If we get that... If we allow ourselves to open, in a profound way... To connect... The power of THAT changes everything. That's a promise.

We don't need permission to be kind, or to deepen our awareness of one another. We just need to choose it. 💙

06/03/2022

05/26/2022

Just saw the movie "Collateral Beauty"
A line, the main premise, stuck with me...
"Just be sure to notice the collateral beauty "
This is so applicable now,... In these days of division, devisiveness, anger, walls, differences and misunderstanding.... There is also Collateral Beauty.....

It's all around us, growing like bold daffodils poking out from beneath a spring snow... It's like tulips that were dug up last spring by busy squirrels and hidden deep beneath the ground only to pop up and bloom in a completely different spot from where they were planted.

It's like the waves that uncover a beautiful abalone shell, or a heart shaped stone, just sitting there beneath the surf until a wave brings it in.

We cannot afford to miss these moments of "Collateral Beauty" that are still all around us...

People joining together to raise up kindness, people meeting each other in their stories of sameness and shared understanding. People who choose to see that even though we're different we are all on a path of love, of time, of death, of perspective... EVERYTHING in between matters.
We are ALL beating hearts... Walking toward each other - longing to be known, to be BELOVED.

When we see each other as love, as beautiful, as beloved... instead of watching and focusing on the collateral damage... Of which there is so very much of right now... How about instead...
We breathe... We soften... We see all the Collateral Beauty, because isn't that just so much better?

If we get that.. If we allow ourselves to open, in a profound way... To connect... The power of THAT changes everything. That's a promise.

We don't need permission to be kind, or to deepen our awareness of one another. We just need to choose it. 💙

05/26/2022

After watching the movie "Collateral Beauty"
A line from this movie, the main premise, stuck with me...
"Just be sure to notice the collateral beauty "

This is so applicable now,... In these days of division, devisiveness, anger, walls, differences, and misunderstanding....
There is also Collateral Beauty.....

It's all around us, growing like bold daffodils poking out from beneath a spring snow... It's like tulips that were dug up last spring by busy squirrels and hidden deep beneath the ground only to pop up and bloom in a completely different spot from where they were planted.

It's like the waves that uncover a beautiful abalone shell, or a heart shaped stone, just sitting there beneath the surf until a wave brings it in.

We cannot afford to miss these moments of "Collateral Beauty" that are still all around us.. People joining together to raise up kindness, people meeting each other in their stories of sameness and shared understanding...

People who choose to see that even though we're different, because we are all on a path of love, of time, of death, of perspective...

EVERYTHING in between matters. We are ALL beating hearts... Walking toward each other - longing to be known, to be BELOVED.

When we see each other as love, as beautiful, as beloved.. instead of watching and focusing on the collateral damage... Of which right now... there is so much.

How about instead...
We breathe... We soften... We see all the Collateral Beauty, because isn't that just so much better? If we get that.. If we allow ourselves to open, in a profound way... To connect... The power of THAT changes everything. That's a promise.

We don't need permission to be kind, or to deepen our awareness of one another. We just need to choose it. 💙

05/25/2022

Returning to yourself... A necessary reframing.