Buttercups in Bloom

If you know anything about me I am a person who isn't afraid to ask questions. I ask questions to grow in my understanding of your unique story. I ask questions to gain a deeper understanding of why or what our purpose is together in ministry with and for one another. I ask questions so that I might have a clear vision of where a project is headed or what the expectations are. I ask a lot of questions. I use to think that questions were negative. I've been told that my questions are a sign of not trusting those in authority. My questions have been used against me to say that I do not work well with others and am not collaborative.  In Brene Brown's book Rising Strong , she helped me to reframe my own sense of what asking questions means so that I might uncover the fullness of my own truth; the truth I seek, the truth that others try to spin, the truth I tell and the truth that reveals the very crevices that have harmed and healed my soul over time.  She frames t...

Life is filled with a thousand little pieces. Some seasons those pieces fit neatly together and we stand in awe at the layering of each piece. Each piece unveils another glimpse of a beautiful part of our lives unfolding.  Other seasons it feels as though the pieces have turned into shards and we become painfully aware our lives are fraught with sharp edges that have blurred the beauty that once shown so brightly.  We want to pick up the shards but we quickly learn that each time we work to put the pieces together, our fingers are stabbed by jarring edges.  Edges that leave us tender and vulnerable to cuts and bruises.  The beauty and the heartache are layered in such an intricate way we are unsure if we can continue the work before us. There are many who are experiencing the painful realization of a picture that just a few days was filled with beauty and certainty is now filled with shards that have left them broken, exposed, and vulnerable. They desperately wan...

 I am among the privileged. I attended a private liberal arts college. I have a master's degree. I am a homeowner. I own an economical low emissions vehicle. I bubble in 'white' on all my forms. I am a cisgender female. I am among the privileged. I was bused across town in the 6th grade. I became a minority within the confines of school and our circle of friends. As a teenager, I was taunted when out in public with my closest friends. I was called 'oreo' or vanilla from the outside world when my friends and I ate dinner in restaurants or walked the mall. I am among the privileged.  I am a female clergy. At the age of 26, I was the youngest and only 1 of 2 females within my ordination class. I became the first female clergy ever to lead a church in Macon County, Tennessee. I have experienced discrimination among both males and females, both laity and clergy. I am among the privileged. I have walked as a minority in different seasons within my...