Life…. It is simple. And yet, complex..

Most of us like to have things in order.

We make lists. We keep calendars. We plan the day, the week, the trip, the meeting, the meal, the future. We feel better when we know what comes first, what comes next, and what we can expect after that.

A wonderful woman recently reminded me what comes first.

When she was a pig-tailed little girl, she spent a great deal of time with her grandfather, Paw Paw, who lived out in the country. He had a nickname for her—one he had made up himself: Grabble Tail. No one knew where the name came from, but it belonged to her because he had given it to her. And he never stopped calling her by it. She often spent the night at his house, and when she was about nine years old, she began “cooking” for him during her visits. One day she put chicken pot pies in the oven, then ran outside to play.

An email angered me because it was full of misinformation. My first impulse was to write the sender back and “set them straight.”

Once, as a young adult, I revisited my grammar school— E.R. Dickson Elementary in Mobile, Alabama. It was just as I had remembered it, all in living color! The smell of freshly waxed hallways, the murmuring voices of children in their classrooms, and the aroma of food wafting from the cafeteria. That day, everything came back to me like scenes from an old movie reel. After walking the hallways, I entered the cafeteria, which was also used for school plays and assemblies, and was struck by how much smaller everything was than it had seemed when I was a child.

According to psychologist Abraham Maslow, our first and most basic needs are physical: food, water, clothing, rest, and shelter. Then comes our need for safety. After that comes our need for love and belonging, followed by our need for self-esteem. At the top of his hierarchy is self-actualization— the process of becoming the person we were created to become.

Before life could flourish, there had to be a place for life to flourish.

What is the first thing you do in the morning when your feet touch the floor?

I have a friend in one of my floor classes at the gym who takes her physical exercise very seriously. Glory rarely misses class, and she is a great encourager of everyone around her. Because my space in class is next to hers, we talk regularly, and over the years we have come to know each other well.

There are times when I do not know where to turn, what to do, or how to move forward. When I come upon these times my first reaction is to strategize. I imagine possibilities. I try to reason my way through. But often, I am still coming from the same place inside myself. I want the same outcome. I demand the same solution. I already know what is best, and I do not want to settle for anything less. But sometimes that very insistence becomes the trap.

We live in the world we give our attention to.

When I was a college student, I began journaling about my travels. Later, my journaling expanded into daily dream work. Over time, this work became something more essential: a way of reflecting on my life, my past, my inner world, and the outer world. It is a way to consciously be in my true nature. 

There are many forms of meditation, and the variety can feel overwhelming when we are trying to find the practice that fits us. There is transcendental meditation, Progoff's Intensive Journal method, mindfulness meditation, Heartfulness, movement meditation, the Silva Method, body scanning, forest bathing, guided meditation, and many others.

I recently came to a deeper spiritual understanding of something —something many of us know in our souls but cannot always put into words. It was not a new truth exactly. It was more like an old truth finally becoming clear enough to form words that point to what it means. 

For me, reflection is another state of consciousness— aligned connection to my soul, tethered to the Divine. It is a time of stillness and inner harmony. It is a time when the spirit surrounds me, and I review, consider, and explore the infinite soul. In reflection, I look over my responses, concerns, and the application or my failure to apply the principles I hold dear. It allows me to enter my day with gratitude and spiritual eyes. Reflection opens the vault of memory and takes me to other eras and seasons of my life. There, stories come back to me and trigger all types of feelings and responses. The connection deepens my trust in God and readies me for the challenges that inevitably arise during the day.

Last Sunday afternoon, I was driving home from the grocery store. It was twilight after a rain, and I had been thinking about our daughter Lauren all day. She was deeply in my heart. Perhaps I had dreamed about her the night before, or perhaps grief had brought her near again. But on that drive, something happened that I will never forget.

Last Sunday afternoon, I was driving home from the grocery store. It was twilight after a rain, and I had been thinking about our daughter Lauren all day. She was deeply in my heart. Perhaps I had dreamed about her the night before, or perhaps grief had brought her near again. But on that drive, something happened that I will never forget.

I sit in the silence of my backyard this morning. The stillness is broken only by the cheerful chatter of birds and the rustling of squirrels. In this quiet, I look out at the trees.