It was never in the living room. Our lives happened around a slab of wood. Our kitchen table was a sacred space growing up. We did the hard work of developing our beliefs and our character, asked big questions and shared all of our dreams. We fumbled over apologies and worked on humbling ourselves enough to ask for help. It was the spot for homework, dinners, celebrations, mourning, building and mending relationships, and everything else in between. Our family loves to eat and we believe in the beauty of sitting around a table together. “We don't come to the table to fight or to defend. We don't come to prove or to conquer, to draw lines in the sand or to stir...
Does the frosting really matter? I asked this question all of the time growing up. Being a rather impatient and eager little girl with an enormous sweet tooth, the process of finishing cupcakes was torture. First you had to mix all of the ingredients together (and eat half of the batter), then put them in cupcake liners, bake them, let them cool, AND ice them, all before you could sink your teeth into their sugary goodness. In my mind it wasn't worth the wait. I could not understand why my grandmother insisted that this was the best method. It clearly wasn't. And so, I would whine, "does the frosting really maaaaattttter?" Gently she would respond, "Yes, it matters. It matters because it means you worked...
L I S T E N. There are many conversations I've missed in my life. Either I was too busy, too distracted, too focused on my response, or too tired to truly listen. There is a major difference between hearing and listening. I can hear what someone is saying - the tone of their voice and notice words coming out of their mouth - without actually listening to them.It's embarrassing. You know, to have a full conversation with someone and not be able to summarize what they said.And then, we expect others to listen to us and are discouraged or frustrated when they don't. Can anyone else relate? Have you ever been listened to? I'm talking about having the full, undivided, genuine...
