Seemingly an odd thing to be thinking about, isn’t it?  Have you ever thought about them?  I have recently and found that they are quite impressive.
They are clear, but can be clouded with chaos and confusion or colored with charisma and charm.

They can give the appearance of being weightless, but they can be very heavy.

They can come slowly, one drop at a time, or flood your face like a rushing waterfall.

They can be controlled or run wild.

They can come whether welcomed or uninvited.

They can be hidden or flow freely.

They can cause you to be embraced or shunned.

They can evoke compassion or anger.

They can be a mixture of grief and hope, darkness and light.

They can hide secrets or cause you to bear your soul.

They can evoke fear or a sense of relief.

They can hide secrets or expose you.

They can express release or sheer brokenness.

They can be shed in private or in community.

They can be a window to another’s deepest parts or a curtain to hide behind.

They can evoke helplessness or victory.

They can tell a story.

It is here that I want to make it personal.

Last summer was one of the hardest summers of my life. Emotions were raw and tears were frequent. I had taken the summer off from my church of twenty-seven years and visited a church that was/is dear to my heart.  The Lord met me there in the most tender ways and church was a sweet respite and home away from home. Even so, each Sunday called forth tears.  Two particular Sundays stand out among them all. The first of the two was a Sunday that was especially hard. Something challenging had happened before I went to church.   While I sat to wait for service to start, a gentleman that I had not remembered seeing all summer stopped and spoke to me. We exchanged names and he said that he hoped to see me next week. He said that he’d remember my name because he had a daughter named Vickie.  True to his word, he stopped by my seat the next Sunday. I stood to greet and hug him.  He called me by name and said that the Lord had me on his mind all week. At that point, my weekly tears began to flow freely. I told him that I suspected it was because I was in a hard place and the Lord wanted him to pray for me. By now he is holding both my hands in his. He looked at me tenderly, released my hands and with each hand began to wipe my tears away. He then gently kissed me on the forehead and said that he would keep praying. He became Jesus’ hands in that moment.

By the end of the summer I had moved to the next place the Lord had for me, but that man stayed on my mind and in my heart.  I don’t usually spend time learning about the origins of names, but I felt led to look up the meaning of his name. It derives from Old Welch and is a patronymic surname, composed of two elements. The first part means great or splendid and the second part lord. I was struck by the meaning. In no way am I comparing him to my Lord, but my Lord used him in my life. I find it more than a coincidence that his name means great or splendid lord and he had a daughter named Vickie! The Lord was so tender with me by giving me this reminder. Having our paths cross was ordained by God.  Joy filled tears flowed.

He is my Lord.

I am His daughter.

Spring cleaning gives us an opportunity to tidy up, sort through, purge, and get rid of things we no longer want or need.  We tend to feel so accomplished when we’ve managed to do a good job at it! It gives us a sense of starting anew. We gain momentum to take the next steps.

In many ways our bodies benefit from spring cleaning as well. Consistently practicing some form of detox helps to that end. It is even more beneficial if we carve out time to do thorough detoxes. As spring fast approaches, why not consider a detox as a way to “spring clean” your body?  Detox is essentially a cleansing.

As with anything regarding striving towards good health, it’s individually based. Each of us will have individual needs and results with any regiment. That said, there are some basic similarities that apply to all of us as it relates to detoxing.  First of all, each of us can experience the benefits of the increase in the efficiency of our digestive systems and the overall benefits that the body parts that are responsible for cleansing and eliminating will experience.  Detoxes, wisely done, can help support good health. Simply drinking enough water daily can help to flush out toxins. Diets consisting mostly of fruits and vegetables also help with detoxing.

There are many benefits of detoxing.  I’ll begin with the icing on the cake!  Often weight loss is involved. If our bodies are used to sugar, extra calories, and the many things associated with SAD (Standard American Diet), and we suddenly rid our bodies of those things, weight loss is to be expected. Again, that’s the icing, not the cake!  The “cake” offers much more!  For starters, detoxing helps with getting restorative sleep.  The toxins that flood our bodies impede our ability to get restful sleep.  Significant rest helps to insure a better deposition. How’s that for having a better day?!

Not only can you possibly feel better, there’s the potential to look healthier. Our complexions often improve. The health of our hair and nails can improve. There’s the potential for reduced bloating, thus enhancing our physical appearance. I found that my adult acne was resolved and my complexion changed when I started eating clean.

As with all of our efforts, we want to be healthier. Detoxing allows us to get a jump start because it rids our bodies of the things that hinder optimum health.

Stay tuned for some detoxing tips over the next few weeks!

 

 

We often do not know just how thirsty we are until we have quenched our thirst. The same can be true for friendships. We don’t often recognize the deep value of friendships until they change. I have been abundantly blessed with rich friendships over time and I am so very grateful.  However, I’ve entered a season of life that lessened the likelihood of seeing some of my closest friends regularly. I now know anew just how special those relationships were/are.  The relationships have not ended, but they do look different.  It is in this new season that I have reflected on these relationships the Lord has given me over time. He was generous to me as a teen, young adult, young wife and mom, and even now in this season as a middle-ager!  I’ve had a deep, deep well from which to drink.

A blog post could not possibly individually describe all the rich relationships from the last thirty years. I will describe but a few. I remember my high school chemistry teacher.  She was a deep well.  During our morning breaks, she would gather with anyone interested to sing and pray together. We called ourselves the CIA, Christians in Action. She taught me to never compromise what I believed, wherever life takes me. As a former CIA member, I went into adulthood holding strong to my convictions. That still rings true of me. I see her fingerprint.   I am blessed to have known her.

A friend of twenty-plus years continued to encourage me to stay true to me. She and I share many of the same passions and we have spent the years spurring each other on in those convictions. She has modeled integrity, grit, loyalty, desire for justice and an unwavering faith. I continue to learn from her and I am so very grateful for her friendship.

My friends are varied in temperaments and each lady models so many things. The variety has enriched my life! I have learned many lessons.   For example, I have seen hospitality practiced in the richest of ways. I think of two friends who have loved me well over a meal.  Multiple meals, that is!  They love to “love” you through food and I love to receive love that way! They teach me to share and to bless others. They give deeply from their hearts. They’ve proven to be great vacation buddies as well!  I have friends that offer few words, but speak volumes when they do speak. So, while the texts and emails are few, the words shared and the sense of loyalty runs deep. From them, I learn steadiness, warmth, and consistency. I can easily pick up from where I left off when I see them after a long while. That is one of life’s sweetest gifts.

I’ve been blessed with women who will speak the truth in love to me. One woman and one truth stand out. The one “truth” was for me to smile when I am most overwhelmed. She’s seen me with a workload to the moon and back.  Knowing I wear my emotions on my sleeve, she often stood in close proximity to me, reminding me to smile. I can still hear the whispers and see the “smile” hand motion.  I am still working on that!  That will probably be true until the end of my life! Then there’s the relationship that is simply sweet because we love each other and enjoy time together. We’ve shared many lunches. It is in those times that I learn loyalty to family, dedication as a mother and the commitments of grandmothers to their grandkids.

I could continue to name the lessons, but will end with two more. I think of the three friends in particular who have taught me to be tough. They call me to balance seeing good in everyone with not being naïve and miss the times when I need to defend myself. They call it backbone! I thought I was a fireball, but compared to them, I am merely a match! They love me enough to challenge me to do the hard things.

I hope you have a rich circle as I do. I also hope you are aligned with older women who are speaking into your life. It’s in those relationships we learn about life from their experiences. They have done the “on the job training” and can offer much advice. Often they have had a much longer walk with the Lord than us and can offer wise spiritual counsel. Some of life’s most important lessons have been learned at the kitchen table of an older woman.

I have been abundantly blessed. The fingerprints of these women are engraved into my heart. I sure hope you have wells of wisdom to draw from.

As a child, board games were probably one of the things I asked for the most for Christmas.  I chuckle at that now because I was an only child for most of that time.  It’s kind of hard to play a board game alone!  One of the games I remember most is a game called Operation.  It seems to be timeless, as it continues to get its shelf space in the local Target or Walmart.  You may remember the steady hands this game requires.  It’s quite fun to be play the role of the doctor.  It takes precision to work to keep Cavity Sam healthy.  You intently hold the tweezers in an effort not to get buzzed.  Being slow and steady is the best way to be successful.  You have to be proactive, plan ahead, and have a game plan.

A game I was not familiar with, but has recently gotten on my radar, is a game called Whac-A-Mole.  It’s everything Operation is not!  It’s fast paced, aggressive, random, and anything but steady.  Moles seem to pop up randomly, seemingly out of thin air,  and you have to whack them as quick as you can.  You have to hit them head on to push them back into the ground.  The quicker you do it the higher your score.  You have to be reactive.  They come after you with a vengeance and it takes all the will power you can muster up to get the upper hand.  Sometimes you just want to give up. You feel outnumbered and overwhelmed!  You hope that they will soon just disappear.

Recently, when thinking about the differences in the games, I thought of similarities to my health journey.  Perhaps you will see the parallels as well.  Who knew such a comparison could be made?!  For as long as I can remember, I treated my health much like the premise of a Whac-A- Mole game.  When my symptoms (moles) popped up, I often swatted them.  Other times I chose to ignore them. I figured if I ignored them they would go away.  What was I thinking?!  I failed to think about the fact that even though the moles were seemingly quiet, they were all the while, eating away at the ground beneath me.  More precisely, my gut!  Until they did a full blown attack, think SWAT team, I keep that “hit some”, “miss some” mentality going.  As a result, I allowed for some irrevocable damage to occur.  The things that can be resolved are part of a very slow process towards healing.  I let the moles do a number on me!  What about you?  Are you whacking the moles or ignoring them?  I urge you not to ignore them.

Instead, pick up your tweezers and meticulously attend to the needs of your body. Be so very careful.  Pay close attention.  Stay alert.  Don’t give up.  Most of the things are simple to do.  You’ve heard it all before, but I will repeat it again for good measures.  Eat healthy.  Exercise.  Take your vitamins.  Get enough sleep.  Do not ignore the messages your body is trying to send.  Answer quickly and do not put your body on hold. If you stay ahead of the game or at least stay in the game, you will stand a better chance of winning the game!  It costs far less to attend to things proactively or as they come up, than to go the reactive route. The beginning of a new year provides a great time to think about making lists. What do you need to jot down and then make sure you attend to soon regarding your health?  Go ahead and get it done!  Make the appointments and keep them.  Fill your kitchen with whole, life-giving foods.  Trade in the Standard American Diet (SAD) for a whole foods eating plan.  Live intentionally.

How can HealthTurners help you to that end?  In addition to the programs offered, I’ve planned a series of Facebook posts over the coming weeks to help you make some changes within your home. We’ll be using my Word of the Year, Shift as a springboard.  As promised, we will have our own HealthTurners group. While I will continue to post on Facebook, the group will be a place where you can ask questions, build community and hopefully be spurred on. Join the group if you are interested in the give and take rich community requires!  We’ll want to hear from you!  Together we can indeed start a movement!  2016 can be a year where you thrive mentally, physically and spiritually.

If you have friends who can benefit from the HealthTurners page or the HealthTurners community, please encourage them to join us. We are better when we go together.

Life has a way of humoring us when we find ourselves in the most unlikely places.  For me, that place would be a gym.  I don’t like all the equipment or all the people working out simultaneously that a fitness gym offers. This extrovert suddenly becomes an introvert.  I simply don’t like the atmosphere. Having a private session with a personal trainer is time well spent to me! A game basketball or volleyball gym does not really excite me either. Add the sweaty smell to both places and I am ready to find the nearest exit!  I know there are people who love the environment and thrive in it. I happen to be married to someone like that and I’m the mom of someone like that. My husband can get himself to and from the sweat pit all by himself, but my daughter needs a chauffeur! Where does that leave me?! At a fitness gym twice a week and a gym for volleyball three times a week. The frequency increases when the season starts!

What’s a mom to do?!  First of all, she dresses the part. I purchased gym clothes. My kids called me an imposter! I say, “When in Rome, do as the Romans do!”  Next, I got a water bottle!  Now if I would only drink the water! I think this season I will advance to getting the magnetic volleyball and basketball for the van! I wonder if GYMMOM is already taken for a customized license plate?!

When I began to think about fall and the increasing number of days I will be spending in a gym, I started to think about how that plays into my life in general.  Have I set my goals to be healthy mentally, physically and spiritually? Do I have a game plan to get it accomplished?  What about you? Have you set out the make this fall one that you control and not one that controls you? Do you know what it will take for you to become healthy or sustain good health? Are there areas where you need to up your game? I know that I have to put that water bottle to good use and get my water intake up!  I have also got to start moving again. I think my brain injury will now allow consistency. Besides, cardio is my friend whether I want to commit to the relationship or not! We’ve got to start visiting at least three times a week. I also need to drop in for a visit with weight training. Do you know what you have to do to up your game? Write it down! That will help to make it happen.

Whether it be redshirted or benched, there are some things that simply should not be a part of my game of life! There is no room for nights when I do not get enough sleep. There’s no place for compromising my good eating habits. It is out of the question to think that I can do life well without a strong community walking with me. It is not an option to minimize my time with the Lord. All toxic relationships are shown the exit door. I need to redshirt some of my to-do list and just focus on the things I have to do. Think a bit about your life. What do you need to redshirt or bench for a while?  What is that one thing you need to let it just stay where it is until it’s ready to enhance your life, not drain it?

No game is complete without a few fouls! Life is full of them!  You and I need to access our lives, identify the fouls and work to forgive the offenders. The Lord can give us the strength to forgive even the flagrant fouls. We do need to remember that while some fouls are not intentional, they are still fouls and we need to call them what they are and work to protect ourselves from that happening again.  When it is our turn to shoot our foul shots, we need to make sure we respond in love. This is especially true if we are shooting a shot because of a technical foul.  Responding in love is as much for us as for the offender.

Calling a time out is part of the game! Some coaches will see that the game is going a bit haywire and finds it necessary to pull the players aside to reassess the situation.  Do you have time outs built into the rhythm of your life?  I was never good at them, but learned the hard way of their importance and now call them when necessary. Giving myself a chance to refocus, think about the end results I want and what I am going to do to get there helps me immensely.  I say we use all that the game of life offers us!

The game cannot be played alone!  It takes a team. Each team member plays a significant role. It works well when you have a stellar line up!   Teams hold each other up. They have each other’s back.  They really are in it to win it together.  Do you have the right players in your life? Have you intentional positioned people around you who will help you win? We simply cannot see the whole court, all the time. Our team mates can look at thing from their place on the court and pass you necessary advice, guard you and even be your wing, helping to hold you up when the games go into overtime and you are exhausted.  A strong, will rounded team is essential.

Today happens not to be a gym day. How do I feel about that? Actually I know I will miss interacting with the other moms. I’ve built relationships that I would not otherwise have had and that have been a huge blessing. I’ll not get to see my athlete practice. She’s actually in an air cast, so that’s true regardless right now! She’s athletically gifted and so much fun to watch.  When I focus on celebrating her and her gifts, gym time is more than tolerable, it’s enjoyable.  It’s an opportunity to “practice what I preach” to my kids. Some things are going to happen whether we want them to or not. We can choose how we respond to them. I need to remember the good experiences far outweigh the negative ones when I am in the gym.  That is easier to say because I did not see when my daughter’s head made significant contact with a brick wall during a game! The Lord was gracious and spared me from seeing that.  Recovered and was right back at it in about three weeks. Life does that to us!