Front Porch Thoughts

This season of Peace on Earth can feel like one big, fat contradiction.  A Joy to the World outlook doesn’t easily flow when we   are all rowing fast and furiously to stay afloat in the rough waters of some very real challenges. And for...

You hear a lot about gratitude at this time of year. Sometimes gratitude is as easy to access as turning on a faucet of running water. Milestones, celebrations and achievements all make for grateful hearts.  The fact is sometimes...

When the crew of the Titanic first saw the iceberg that led to the ship’s terrible fate, it appeared to be something they could navigate around. After all, the Titanic was heralded as unsinkable. The crew’s tragic miscalculation was...

A family addiction crisis can feel like you are trying to survive a Category 5 hurricane. The high, deadly winds of a loved one’s substance- fueled choices are whipping around the atmosphere at more than 100- miles- an- hour....

I have a hard time with perspective. I can lose it very easily. And, at the risk of telling on myself, I’m no picnic to be with when my perspective is thrown off. Just ask my family. Lack of sleep,...

“It was all too much. I could not take one more thing going wrong. My prayers seemed to bounce off some Teflon ceiling in heaven and crash-land on Earth. I asked God to give my son a moment of...

Here’s some positive in the midst of a year with challenges that seem to stack up like Jenga game pieces.

Gradually, but very steadily, I did a 180 with my outlook about the years my family struggled with substance use disorder.  I went from being broken to embracing the power of being a wounded healer. For more than a...