Being a Woman

For the Days You Think You’re the Only One Not in the Club

Sometimes, the more your dream is woven into your deep places, the more you see it out in the world.

When I ached to be a mama but couldn’t get pregnant, I saw pregnant women everywhere. No matter where my feet traveled – grocery stores, movies, church – there they were, members of an exclusive club where everyone knew the password but me.

Of course, this wasn’t true at all. But tender things longed for and not held distorted my vision.

As my thirtysomething self looks around the dining room table at three shrinky dink versions of my husband and me, I see plain evidence that God says yes to desires, even if differently than I planned.

But what about those times when the evidence hides and you’re convinced your desires are the exception? You are the exception?

Do you ever feel that way? Read here and share your story, too?

April 13, 2013 7 Comments Filed Under: (In)Courage, Being a Woman, Confidence, Writing

On Success and Legacy

By Kristen

Our pastor said it last Sunday: “All that matters in the end – what you see around the deathbeds – is how well someone loved.”

And my mind goes to Marie O’Neill, a woman who was never listed in any Who’s Who of anything on earth, but she was one of the most successful people I knew.

For over fifty years, my Grandma Rea lived in the tiny white clapboard house, the dot at the end of a long dirt road exclamation mark in Osage County. She had only granddaughters and treated us all like favorites, indiscriminately dishing out love like homemade sugar cookies and cinnamon rolls from the oven.

She used words for love all the time. But whether we watched My Fair Lady for the three hundred and thirty-second time or danced to Frank Sinatra or played with babies or baked and baked and baked in the kitchen, she said this a thousand more times through her actions:

I love you, Kristen.

She died a few years ago and left a miles wide legacy of love.

Oh yes, Grandma Rea was successful.

As I dive into the book of John, I read Jesus’ command for His people to love one another. But he doesn’t stop there. Over and over he says whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

When people of action speak, we listen. And when people of words act, we are inspired. And when we find a way to imperfectly do both, we find success.

If you saw Mr. Holland’s Opus, you know He felt himself a bit of a failure for never publishing his one great musical masterpiece. So when his day job – high school music teacher – ends after thirty years, Mr. Holland wonders if large portions of his life have been misspent.

On the day he packs his office to leave, he is surprised by hundreds of former students who prove he indeed did leave his mark in the world.

“We are your symphony, Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and notes of your opus. And we are the music of your life.”

~Gertrude Lang, from Mr. Holland’s Opus

Mr. Holland etched his mark on soul after soul through words and action. And after decades of investment, he found a symphony composed, a symphony of success.

{You tube is not cooperating with me , but if you’d like to watch the scene in all it’s mid-90′s glory (oh the boxy, way-too-big clothes!) click below.}

Mr. Holland’s Opus

No matter the ladders we climb or the medals we grab or the goals we reach, the only success that counts at the chapter’s end is the love-in-action story told through people, the mark we’ve left on eternal hearts and souls.

Under my roof and in my life, may I leave a legacy of love. And in the love, success.

March 18, 2013 8 Comments Filed Under: Being a Woman, Faith in Action, Family, waiting

Because We All Need Someone Who Creates Light and Shows Us Ours, Too

By Kristen

Rebecca and I stare transfixed by the Thomas Moran painting. I scout out the ceiling above in search of a light shining down, but there isn’t one. The light shines from the painting itself. An early American artist best known for his paintings of the American West, Thomas Moran painted light and contrast in profoundly unique ways.

How does one use color and tools to create light such as this?

Not only did Mr. Moran posses an amazing talent for painting light, but he was also gifted at removing clutter from a scene so he could paint a landscape’s natural beauty. In the painting above, entitled Green River Cliffs, Wyoming, he removed signs of the town’s commercial development so he could focus on the colorful buttes rising from the water.

In his ability to strip away all excess – the insignificant – and drench the heart of the scene in light, he was able to show us a landscape picture that reflected God’s image, His holy creation.

As I walked around the gallery, I couldn’t help but think how the most inviting people do the same. They see you the way Jesus does, beyond your hurts and imperfections. They minimize your insignificant and highlight your good.

They use tools – their words, their heart, their service, their presence – to create a light that reflects the best parts of you. They see you as the gift you are, part of God’s holy creation.

I want to be that kind of inviting person, too.

Holley Gerth writes like Thomas Moran paints. She uses the Word to drench hearts in Light, to help us see ourselves the way Jesus does. And today? Well, today she invites us to a celebration because she’s having a baby girl! A book baby girl named You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream: Opening the Door to All God Has for You. This beautiful book not only shows you how to give wings to your dream, it will personallly speak to you as it brings you to rest straight into the heart of God. It’s spiritual, practical, inspirational, and it will bless the livin’ daylights out of you like nothing else you’ve read.

{And I’m not just saying that because I’m in it, but because Holley really is our nation’s encourager-in-chief and her books are the next best thing to having her in your living room.}

Won’t you celebrate her book’s birth day by visiting here or here? And if you order You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream from DaySpring, use the code holley25 for 25% off! That makes the book around $8. Woot!