In an old gardening calendar, a poignant sentence illustrating a pathway littered with rose petals jumped out at me. There was no reference to an author, but the sentence read, “forgiveness is the odor flowers give off when flowers get trampled on.” It reminded me of a discussion I recently had with one of my sisters about forgiveness.
In the summer months, my perennial flowers are in full bloom, each competing with the other for pride of space! I take note of who’s pushing whom out of the way so that I can cull and transplant the obnoxious culprits to another more favorable spot in the garden in the early fall months.
Getting older definitely has its benefits other than senior citizen discounts! At this stage, I have gratefully realized that I don’t have to audibly spill out in words what I really think, especially if it’s exceptionally raw. Being a grandma affords me the luxury to take a look at from where my words come, examine them, and release them in timely increments.
The man bun, the mullet, the shag, the bob, and the pixie. .
Heritage blue, avocado green, emerald green, khaki beige, and slate gray…
Aerobics, jazzercise, Zumba, circuit training, and yoga…
Life group, Discipleship Now, Intergenerational Sunday school, and Training Union. . .
So when I first heard of Enneagram, I thought, “here we go again!”
The Gospels are full of stories about Peter: impetuous, impatient, hyper- vigilant, passionate Peter. In Luke 5:1-11, Peter had already agreed to follow this guy named Jesus. He had already made that huge, monumental, life-altering, anti-establishment decision. Peter had even gone so far as to open his home to the community for healing and teaching. So, why was Peter so scared of Jesus in this story?
I am bilingual: English and Arabic. As a kid in Lebanon, I learned both languages simultaneously. By osmosis, I learned which language to use where and with whom. But in the loose boundaries of our hospitality driven home and family, both languages were used at the same time, even in the same sentences. For as all bilinguals from birth can attest, some things are just better expressed in one language or another!