How can we choose the perfect gift to give someone special? Marilyn Elliott shares wisdom on the greatest gift of all: the giving of self!
What about those times when literally everything goes wrong? Is it possible to maintain gratitude for something when it seems like there isn’t much to be thankful for? Marilyn Elliott shares a time when her Thanksgiving Dinner did not turn out quite as planned and the hilarious lesson she learned about gratitude.
To you, my desk may look like a rubbish heap. In reality, it is more like a compost bin. Marilyn Elliott shares insight into her creative process, as reflected on her office desk.
With age comes wisdom, and older women have so much to offer the world. Marilyn Elliott talks about how their voices are so needed in the world and that their stories are not only a blessing to others, but the telling can also become healing in their own lives.
Children learn best by the hands-on work of play and journeying through everyday life. Marilyn Elliott shares a teachable experience she had with her kids. When their pet hamster died, she used the experience to help them understand what happens when a loved one passes away.
Today’s mid-week post focuses on how spirituality is communal in nature. Marilyn Elliott shares wisdom on how we are not called to cherry-pick the people with whom we wish to be in relationship.
We all notice those people who just make other people’s lives a little brighter. They are the kind of people we all want to be around. They are…above average. So often, we wonder what makes them so different from everyone else, and sometimes, we wish we could be more like them. Marilyn Elliott has good news! We really can be more like them. Here are ten easy ways to be a light to others.
Recipe for chaos:
Three kids and one cat,
One 1100 square foot bungalow with two small bathrooms and a half finished basement,
A calendar schedule too full; two full time jobs,
Mix with meals and fun and fights and dirty clothes and science experiments.
Leave out for a week to ripen.
How is play linked to spirituality? Marilyn Elliott muses about the difference between religious activity and spirituality, and what holy playtime can do for your soul.
Only humans have transcendent longings. Your dog might think it is a human, might act like a human and want to sit in the best chair. It might even have human like emotions. You may even be convinced your dog IS a human! But your dog never looks into the sky and dreams about flying through the air like a goose. Or closer to the ground, the poodle never looks at the greyhound loping down the street and thinks, “If it kills me, I am going to beat him in a race.” Nope. Only humans do that.
Formative power is a part of what it means to be made in the image of God. Formative power means that we have power to participate in our formation. And it also means that when I force my opinions and choices on others (even beloved others) I am robbing them of their God given formative power.
Formation is not only about the spirit. Human persons are embodied spirits, and as such, we cannot separate our spiritual selves from our physical, emotional and material selves. When you have a sick heart, your whole world likely feels sick, and vice-versa. Proverbs 17:22 says it pointedly, “A crushed spirit dries up the bones.” To over spiritualize our formation and distance it from the bodily experience of life is to foster deformation.
