The Consilium Blog
Created with a Purpose: Living in the Same
What is purpose? The dictionary says purpose is the reason for which something exists or is done, made, or used; an aim or goal with an intended or desired end or result; determination; resoluteness; to act with intention with an anticipated outcome; the quality of...
Looking Up
I don't ever remember a time that I didn't look up to my dad. The fact that he is 6'4" is one reason that looking up to him is all I can do. As a little girl, I remember pressing my bare feet on top of his feet as he led me in a dance of gentle swaying. As a high...
Living on Purpose When You Don’t Want To (The Hippopotamus Hypothesis)
I didn’t say it to him, because he was my boss and a pastor. I didn’t raise my voice and I remained seated, but mentally, I was on my feet and my emotions were rising precipitously. You want me to do what? I questioned silently … with exasperation and, admittedly, a...
Longing for the High Place Where Death Does Not Win
Out of the blue last Tuesday, I was struck down by a wave a grief, sobbing and wrestling with loss after loss. In a matter of days we had attended two visitations at the same funeral home. One was for an elderly man who lived a long life. And one was for a...
Grieving? Do You Believe?
She bows her head down low. Not in shame or embarrassment, but sorrow. You will not see her tears; she refuses to share her grief. Easter brings us face-to-face with death. Do you believe? We walk in the fear of the unknown when we discover more of our friends are...
From Crushed and Broken to Healed and Whole
I studied her small, wrinkled hands. Their roughness testified to the fact that these eighty-five year old hands had worked hard through the years. I rubbed them gently, hoping she could feel the love flowing from my hands to hers. Glancing out the sliding glass...
The Gift of Grief: 10 steps to help us through the process
I had plans to attend a quarterly ladies’ event at church that evening. “It would be good for me to get out and be around people,” I reasoned. As I stared in my closet vacantly trying to decide what to wear, grief overtook me and the tears began to flow. There was no...
Learning and Growing from Grief
Twenty-three years – it seems like it was yesterday. Like I am dreaming. Sometimes the pain of losing her is as fresh as the day she died in my arms. The doctors were telling me I needed to go back to the hospital where I was a patient. They said I needed my rest. I...
Invitation To Dance
My husband Michael doesn’t have a retiring bone in his body. Nonetheless, after thirty-seven years of faithful service to the same agency, last year he tendered his resignation and retired on December 31st. And boy, am I excited! No more solopreneur stuff for me. No,...
