Tag Archives: Gratitude

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The Holidays and Tears

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Have you checked out our new post on Lead Change? The Holidays and Tears

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On Sunday, our church choir and an orchestra filled an entire service with Christmas carols.  As they sang songs that I cherish, I was hit with a sudden realization that there are parts of the world where people are not allowed to sing those songs, or to come together and hear them.

. …I choked, I tried to clear my throat, I fought tears and then I cried.  (Partially because I was so overwhelmed with thankfulness for what I have and partially because I was so overwhelmed with grief about what others don’t have.)

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Brokenness Creates Humility, Thankfulness Sustains It

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Yesterday I gave a presentation and shared a painful story from our lives and some of the lessons we learned, hoping to make a difference for even one person.  

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Two specific lessons I shared were:

  • Brokenness can serve as a catalyst to humble us and make us whole again.  
  • Thankfulness is the key to continuing that evolution.    

Tonight I realized that September 11th is just around the corner.  That date, always makes me think of where we were on the day our nation will never forget…  My husband was at work in Houston.  I was on a business trip in Phoenix. I turned on the television in my hotel room as the plane hit the second tower and wondered if I had tuned into a movie instead of the news.  When the Pentagon was hit, I realized everything was real and wondered if this was the start of WW III.  

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Broken? You Can’t Have an Omelet Without First Breaking the Eggs

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Oliver TveitMy Grandfather was a WWII Battle of the Bulge Veteran and although his nature was to accept whatever life handed him and to move on, the memories of the brokenness and devastation that the war created left a shadow of questions that haunted him.

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For years he did his best to cope, while raising a large family and tending to a farm.  When his youngest grandchildren started asking about the war he found some healing by sharing stories with family and fellow veterans, but the questions themselves remained.

In 2004, 60 years after the battle he accompanied a number of veterans back to those battlefields. Considering the devastation of the homes, the cities and the lives that were directly impacted by the battles, grandpa was not sure what kind of a welcome they would receive.  Much to his surprise, everywhere they went they were treated as heroes!