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Prepare to Be Assimilated
As Christians we talk about the love of God, how it’s so amazing and wonderful and unlike any human love we have ever experienced. We are drawn in as unbelievers with stories of God’s unchanging, limitless love; how crazy He is about us. We hear, “Come as you are,” but then when we do come, the Bible is handed to us like a prescription, and we come face to face with all the thousands of ways we need to change and be better people, i.e. different. Nothing like ourselves. This results in a schizophrenic dichotomy and a bit of a bait and switch – on one hand we know Jesus…
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Some Thoughts on Hope
I used to think that hope was based on circumstances. One day the tide will turn. My prince will come. My luck will change. Superman will arrive. I’ll win the golden ticket. It’s all in the luck of the draw. But this mentality puts you in a passive, codependent role, helplessly waiting for your moment in the sun. That somehow your future and your destiny are up to chance, or the right people to come along, or the planets to align, etc. Not only does this type of thinking actually discourage hope, our anxieties increase. Setting our hopes on unfixed and fluctuating events threatens our feelings of security. We have…
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It’s Been a Year
Dear Lauren, It’s been a year since you left this world, and we miss you still the same. Our hearts ache when we long to pick up the phone and hear your voice on the other end. It’s been a year of holidays, birthdays, and special days without you to celebrate them. Life has proven that it does indeed go on for those of us still on this temporal soil, but it sure would be much better with you in it. So much happens in one year; we hustle about in a maniacal flurry of activity. And yet it feels like just yesterday that we found out your health took…
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The 10 Most Overrated Things About Fall
Well, it’s that time of year again, folks. When all of social media is abuzz with the passing of summer and the approaching autumn equinox. I wish I could join in the excitement, but I am a summer gal – give me perpetual summer break, beach vacations, swimming pools, sun tans, flip flops, peaches, blueberries, watermelons, ice cream, sun dresses, and running through sprinklers. I get it, you all really hate the heat. But the heat isn’t a problem if you are righteously prepared with the proper clothing, a cool drink, and a refreshing body of water in close proximity. And I recently discovered after a family trip to Providence…
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The Dregs of Summer
Around this time of year, I always feel a little sad with the passing of summer. Summer is my favorite season. Yes, even in the Georgia heat. Beaches, peaches, blueberries, vacations, sandals, swimming pools, sun tans, summer dresses, and freckles make me happy. I love the sun, and really do hate winter time. Winter is my least favorite season. While everyone else celebrates the passing of summer and the coming of Fall, I see it merely as the approaching cruelest of seasons. You can have your pumpkin spiced lattes. Give me sweat and cold drinks any day of the week. Maybe I need to move further south…
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Growing Up Maltese: The Football Edition
My father is Maltese. Yes, Maltese like the cross. Yes, like the dog. And no, it is NOT where malt beverages were invented. I get asked that more than you would believe. My dad was born in Hamrun, Malta on June 18th, 1950. He immigrated with his family, to Ellis Island, on December 5th, 1952, which coincidentally also happened to be my mother’s first birthday. His family settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he later met and married my mother. I was born in Wyandotte, just south of Detroit but still in the same county. It is similar to someone being “from Atlanta” but living in Sandy Springs or Roswell, both…
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Observations from a Piano Bench
My daughter, Josephine, age 9, sat at her piano, practicing. She called to me from her seat, “Hey Mom! Did you know that a flat is sharp and a sharp is a flat?” “Say what?” “The black keys are both sharps AND flats! It just depends on what note you’re playing!” “That’s neat. So, based on your perspective, the same key can have two totally different names.” “That’s right! To A, the black note, or the sharp, is a big brother. But to B, the SAME black key is a flat. It’s a little sister.” Two things: 1. Having your kids learn a musical instrument is an education all by…
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The Kind Gentleman
My husband’s father, Lauren Oliver Buckland, Sr., passed away on July 28th, 2014. There was a memorial service held yesterday in Atlanta at Church of the Apostles, a church they attended for many years. It was a beautiful service and a wonderful tribute to a man we loved dearly and who will be greatly missed. I had the great honor and privilege of speaking during the time of reflections from friends and family. It is a great honor that I could call myself both. This is what I wrote for him. It is difficult for me to wrap my mind around the fact that Lauren is gone. There is a…
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Let’s Ban #BanBossy
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In, and a bunch of other important people, are on a mission to ban the word “bossy.” They argue that the word is too often used as a negative label describing girls with natural leadership qualities. Really? I thought I was using it to describe someone, male or female, who is kind of a rude jerk. Before I rant about all that is wrong with this campaign, let me just state for the record that the campaign makes many points with which I actually agree. I am all for children, boys and girls, using their words to speak up and be…
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For the Level of Humanity!
Unless you have no internet connection, no television, never go to the grocery store, or aren’t on speaking terms with your mother, you have probably already heard the news: George Clooney is getting married! The internet is abuzz with THE woman who finally captured George’s heart. Her name is Amal Alamuddin, and her resume is dizzying. She’s an Oxford-educated human rights lawyer who, coincidentally enough, also looks like a supermodel. She speaks three languages and her list of accomplishments range from representing Julian Assange to acting as advisor to Kofi Annan. In other words, she isn’t mortal.
