I grew up in Detroit, a city of factories and funeral parades, Motown records and mended fences. The streets I learned to walk on were loud with engines and louder still with ambition. In that city — in that era, especially — toughness was currency. I learned early to stand my ground, to protect my […]
There are moments in life when personal accomplishment and communal mission converge in a way that changes everything. Lynette’s completion of her Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Direction is precisely one of those moments. This degree represents years of disciplined study, late nights balancing family and ministry, deep reflection, and the courage to push into […]
Reflecting on where we stand in life and the decisions, we make is not a luxury reserved for philosophers or the privileged; it is a practical necessity for anyone who shoulders responsibility—whether as a leader, a parent, a partner, or a friend. Every choice we make ripples outward: policies we endorse shape communities, the tone […]
There were times when I felt utterly out of control, a realization that didn’t come with a map—only the uneasy knowledge that thinking harder wouldn’t change how I reacted. What helped was an ongoing practice of curiosity and embodiment: tiny experiments like three daily check-ins, a weekly trigger log, or a 30-day journal that forced […]
I remember the day my youngest child was born like a photograph in slow motion. It was 43 years ago, in a delivery room that smelled of antiseptic and hope. I promised myself I would be there — not because I thought I could do anything technical, but because something inside me insisted I needed […]
When I was a child, summer evenings meant the sweet, damp smell of grass and the soft thud of bare feet on the lawn as we played hide-and-seek until the light thinned to the color of my old side of our old house. I remember crouching behind brick walls in that ethnic area of Detroit […]
Today’s blog post is about Easter from a deeply methodist standpoint in the form of a sermon. As a spiritual director I felt with all that is going on in the world we could take a moment and breathe into a deeply felt practice. And yes, I know that some of my brothers and sisters […]
You’ve probably heard the phrase “emotional intelligence” thrown around in meetings, on LinkedIn posts, and in self-help emails. It’s become one of those buzzwords that can feel both promising and slippery — promising because it suggests we can get better at being human with each other, slippery because it can stay as a concept in […]
I have started todays blog with a paraphrased story to illustrate this important study for coaching and spiritual direction. When my friend Lila brought her twenty-four–year–old nephew, Jonah, to the small group at our church last spring, I expected the usual restless energy of someone caught between college and a first job. Jonah sat quietly […]
Some of you may have of heard about contemplation and written it off as a bunch of woo woo. But contemplation is less a set of techniques and more a shared journey inward—one we take together, step by quiet step. It slowly rewires our brains so we can meet reality as it is: without judgment, […]
