HONESTLY SPEAKING

Hot Fall, Seasons, and New Things.

If there is one thing I don't like very much about Southern California...it can be the fall weather. I know, I know...that's why So Cal is so popular. We're known for a long string of 70something blue sky days in February when the rest of the country seems up to their eyeballs in snow...but I want a cooler fall. I want colored leaves and cider on a late September evening. 

It's been a long extended summer. That's ok. I'll survive. Someday I think I'll have to move to Seattle or Colorado or Portland and get my life some fall weather. 

I've lost all motivation to blog here on what now feels old. I'm working with Casey Glantner to redesign this space and I absolutely can't wait to show it to you. It's going to be really fun. Relaunch is on it's way this Thanksgiving. For now...I want to check in and share some of what I've been up to.

This fall has been part of a fresh new season for me. It feels exciting and has been full. Many of the things I've envisioned for my life and been building for ten years or so are present. Feels surreal sometimes. I can see things coming to fruition with Life to the Full and other projects. Now they seem about 50 miles down the road...rather than 500 as its felt in the past.

I've been able to speak to several groups and begin to finish up my work preparing Life to the Full for your church and for your home. I'm excited...really really excited. All of that will be clear and launching in the new year, so more later on that.

Of course as things have been good...and fruitful...the resistence of the one who does not want us to create comes down hard. The self doubt, the fear, the muddy relationships that come back to haunt. I want to be honest, it's been so good and also so hard. I'm grateful for a community of great friends who are willing to pray for me the minute I ask them to and who email encouraging notes that keep me moving. I'm growing, trusting and learning to admit how vulnerable I feel sometimes. This life is so complicated and hard...but also full of so much redemption and beauty. I'm finding my way through it all. It's a dance, there is a rhythm...it's never all good or all bad is it?

Let's see. What have I been up to? Why don't I show you? Pictures are always so good to illustrate moments.

Darling Magazine launched it's first print edition this fall, so that was really fun to be a part of. You must download a copy to your iPad and get on the subscriber list to get a print edition this December when it comes out again because it's revolutionary (and beautiful). There was a very cool party downtown, but the best moment was paging through it in my living room for the first time and seeing this dream come to reality.

And I got to speak at Forest Home's Briefing conference. That was so fun. It was a great weekend. I did two seminars. One was called "Live your Life Now" (based on my Darling article) and the other "Embracing Imperfect." I was shocked when the room filled up with half men, half women. I really hadn't excepted many men to come. I've experienced over and over in the church that a woman's voice speaks to women...a man's voice gets to speak to both genders. I don't like this...but I guess on some level I'd accepted it. I was pleasantly surprised and this has changed my approach to many of my projects and design of the new blog. September shaped up to be a time of training new interns at Malibu Pres, launching fall programs (Malibu Kids Club, Sunday School, MOPS, etc), speaking to a few MOPS groups on Healthy Connection and ended with a lovely trip to Steamboat Springs, CO to refuel, reflect, and spend some time under trees with FALL COLORS in FALL WEATHER!! with great friends, old and new on the Soulation Gold Gathering. If you don't know about Soulation, then you need to. My friends Jonalyn and Dale Fincher a doing great work in helping us all restore our souls so that we can become more appropriately human as we were intended to be.  If you're wrestling with a tough question, frustrated with the church, or searching for God...Soulation can help you find your way.

Last weekend I took my sweet 7th grade buddy Zuzu with me to speak to the Venice Boys and Girls Club. They were hosting a Dove Foundation workshop on real beauty and self esteem and I got to do one of the workshops. I had fun talking to the girls and getting real about what I believe we're called to...unique beauty. I admitted that I've never liked my legs, but that I'd like to start having gratitude for them and liking their shape for what they are...rather than what they may not measure up to. I had 120 girls stare at my legs the minute I shared this. I guess that's one way to start that ball rolling...haha. I stopped and said, "Okay, yes, let's all look at my legs. There they are. Now let's get back to talking about you and your thoughts on beauty." We laughed together and had fun growing in some grace towards who we are.

I seem to need about equal parts people time to alone time...so you can imagine I'm sure that amidst so much people time there have been lots of naps and early to bed nights. Sometimes I feel like a grandma for heading to bed at 9pm, but I know that if I am going to keep walking in this direction, creating and leaning into the path I'm on...it's going to require the best of me and I need rest.

Pretty soon I'll post photos of our new church building at Malibu Pres! That's going to fill a lot of the next months of my life...an exciting fall it is...thank goodness it's finally back in the So Cal 70 degree range! At least I can pretend it's fall when it's a little cooler than 95 out.

Have a beautiful day!

-Kristie

 

Galaxies, Stars, and a Lot of Questions

I'm having a bunch of thoughts after going to the Griffith Park Observatory yesterday. They're not thoughts that I'm going to find answers to...just ones I find myself pondering. If you haven't been to the newly renovated Observatory, you really should whenever you're in LA.

We went to the Planetarium show as a Malibu Pres staff (after we went to the Original Tommy Burger) and I am always so humbled to ponder the universe. I loved the lady's articulate way of describing the details of what we know, and the wonder of how much we don't.

An infinite amount of stars, galaxies, and an expanding universe...

Oh, I guess my life isn't quite as big as I thought...

...yet I'm still important to God.

That's where I land. I'm in awe that our Creator is so vast and still knows how many hairs are on my head and also came to redeem the way we got out of order with His design. I'm in awe that our bodies are made of light and dust, and yet detailed in their composition beyond what any of us could understand or construct.

As the film zoomed out and showed just how many balls of light, galaxies, there are I was pretty overwhelmed. If there are a million galaxies, and life on other planets, are there more created beings? Humans? Of course. I'm sure there are. Why would God limit His creativity and growing expression of love and just create you and me on earth? I just want to know if when I get to the next life, do I get to meet them or will we be kept to Earth-heaven? Is their story and narrative similar? What kinds of messes did they make because they were loved enough to have free will?  

If each galaxy has a choice then they probably all have a savior? Is it Jesus? Does Jesus get around or does God, as a communal, triune God come to each planet as a different person? I think I just answered my question. Same God...so the Word (John 1:1) enters in different bodies into different contexts...that's my guess. I wonder what the stories are there? I wonder what their revelation of God or Bible is like? What stories of profound love has our Creator expressed in these other lands? Did he tell the story of the Good Samaritan there? The Prodigal Son? Does their context match ours or is it entirely different? My sense is that it might be totally different...though the order of things is so intricate and perfect that I can't fathom another way..but I am me...not I AM. 

My faith grows, I am humbled, I realize that I just don't know...

The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7

This universe filled with light, and you are light. I am made of light. God put His beautiful, radiant light in each of us...little precious humans. He somehow governs the universe, continues to create, and is tenderly connected to every detail of my day. 

I'm in awe. The only response is worship...humble worship...

...and can we please come up with a better english pronoun for God than the capitalized "He"? It just feels so small to write about this I Am...the Alpha and Omega...Love incarnate. YHWH.

What are your questions? What do you wonder about?

Why I Don't Want to Say Anything About Chicken Nuggets.

Today I read the blog of an online friend Michael Rowe over at The Huffington Post titled The Great Chick-fila Snake Oil "Faith" Hustle. In his thought provoking critique of the Chilckfila fight, I found myself called out as a silent mainstream(?) christian. I don't feel mainstream anymore. Maybe I am. I hope so. I find myself tired by the cultural polarization that marks these days we live in. Be it political, social, or global everyone seems to have a stone or chicken nugget to throw. As a passionate Jesus-follower, I am tired of so much of our cultural discourse and the way we go about it. Michael is right, no one is holier or more loving and Christ-like through the whole discussion, and I think calling this a "discussion" is generous of me.

If you and others are disappointed that people like myself have been silent, then I want to say something to let him, and perhaps you, know that I'm here and I'm still with you. To Michael's post which you can read here, I would like to reply: 

Michael, I always love reading your thoughts and work. You help broaden my perspective and for that I thank you. I can't help but see all of this angry fight as a giant counter productive distraction away from the main message of what it means to be divinely created human being, loved by an incredible God who made no execptions towards which humans he lavishes his unconditional love upon (Romans 8:38-39). 

Through this kind of fight (public and nasty) no one changes their viewpoint, compassion doesn't grow, people don't change they just get more and more polarized. Sad really. You make some great points Michael, I don't agree with everything but that needs to be alright with everyone and I know it is with you. I appreciate that. As one of the christians you speak of who has been silent on this whole fight...I am silent because it makes me tired and sad and frustrated that it's come down to which side of the chicken nugget you stand on now. Awful. Most of the time I don't feel like anyone will listen to me if I were to say anything anyways. I am a christian so I'm perceived the enemy to one side and too progressive to the other. Sometimes I do feel marginalized. That is true. I think we all do in a polar society. I actively try to find other platforms and moments to enter into a culture shifting dialogue when I know I'll be heard.  

As a children's and family pastor, I want to be too busy following Jesus and living my life to have much time for a right-wing brawl. I try to spend my time doing the following: loving my gay brothers and sisters and their families right exactly where they are in life at this moment, taking kids to summer camp, answering calls about moms fighting cancer and other disease, having civil conversations about healthy sexuality with the individuals I meet, helping people find great therapists so they can save their marriages if at all possible, conversing one on one with far-right people I meet about the complexity that they do not see or understand and how awkward I feel when they stand up and represent my faith with narrow language, and working to raise money with my Sunday School kids to get a water well into a school in Haiti.  

When I do speak up, I want my words to count and be heard. I don't want to waste my breath on those who are only looking to conquer, not converse. 

The wisdom I find in this is to walk quietly in a loud room of fighting people and pray for all of us. If I zoom out and think of this from a bird's eye or eternal perspective, it's all such a huge sad mess: Haiti, Syria, hatred, our cultural preoccupation with Tom and Katie, the way I sensed the media is pitting America vs. China at the Olympics causing a growing and open racism in the language of those around me, cancer, war, loss and heartache. My only hope is that I believe firmly that Jesus Christ is going to redeem this all someday, and also right now, and I want to be about that work...which I realize includes helping folks understand homosexuality properly so that we can alleviate the tire-slashing life-threatening hatred swirling around us.

Michael, I hope this explains a little bit of why I haven't entered into the right-wing-chicken-nugget-fight so far. I mean that honestly and with heart...not with sarcasm. For now, I'm going to keep my mouth (relatively) shut and let it blow over.  But maybe I've been wrong about being quiet on the hot topics people fight over. Perhaps you're right, the middle voices need to stand up so we fill in the gap.  I love reading your thoughts. I think it's very important that we all stay in healthy conversation.  We won't always agree, but we should be talking and humanizing each other by living amongst diverse relationships. 

As for Dan Cathy, I have heard from those who know him that he's a lovely and nice man who does incredible work saving orphans and building beautiful things in our country. I'm sorry he gave money towards hurting others if that is what has happened. I'm honestly out of the loop. If you check out the Winshape you'll see his profits go towards creating good things too for foster kids in need of homes. Perhaps we can pray that if he hasn't already, he will have a courageous up close and personal friend or family member who will help him understand why his words come across in such a hurtful way to the many people among us who struggle to make peace with their same sex attraction...no matter how they end up living that out.   

Alone in the Trees

People keep asking me "You're on this road trip alone??" Some are horrified. Some are jealous. Some tell me to drive safe. The truth is I see a friend at every stop, so I am doing a little of both: alone and with friends.

So I've been thinking a lot about living a present life because that is what I feel like a road trip by myself allows me to do. I've been present to every single tree, moment, song, thought...and that is why I didn't invite you or whoever to come with me. I wanted to feel myself fully alive, fully present.

The truth is I'm not alone at all. I have a very present God with me and I talk to Him the whole way. I don't talk out loud and pray like that unless I start to feel lonely. Most of the time it's deeper, I'm in my head pondering a thousand things and finding quiet too. I'm aware of His miracle of creating me, and the beauty I am able to see through my eyes and every single person I come across. I experience it all so deeply and with so much beauty when I'm alone and in a new place.

So if I was you, I would go on a road trip alone...unless you are afraid of the thoughts in your own mind. Perhaps you are doing your best to avoid your deep and haunting fears. You're drinking or shopping or eating or talking or watching tv. It can be loud and scary to face the things that are at the edges of your mind all trying to come center stage if given a moment of pause. I know I used to fear being alone for that reason, so I understand...I just think there is great freedom in facing them. Let them come into the light and show themselves because they're not going to go away by shopping or eating or drinking. I know there is freedom because I have found some.  I've said the "what ifs" out loud and wondered about the "do you think this when I do that?" questions and most of them have turned out to be merely fears and illusions, lies and chains keeping me from true freedom.

In my imperfect raw relief I've found my relationship with God to go deeper and wider and encompass more relief than fear. 

So you might have some kids or a husband or a wife and no time to go take a week on the 101 but I encourage you to wake up before the sun meets the horizon to journal and walk and ask those questions. Wonder about your deepest fears and say them out loud. 

The answer I've found over and over to be something quite beautiful. God loves you as you are...and as you are isn't as bad as you might think. 

And by God I'm not talking about some religious weird thing outside of you. God who comes to dwell in us and around us and above us creating giant redwood trees, sunrises over the jagged coastline and fingers that play the guitar. He is with us in a way that you don't really have to search far, here. Already here. Believe and find Him.  I find God with me in trees and in the city. I'm never alone.

 

Road Trip Day 1 Photojournal

First I stopped off in Los Olivos to have lunch with my wonderful friend (and cupcake queen superior) Amber and her great kids. I love entering into their life for a moment. It started things off just right.

I love Opal and her sweet curious spirit: "What did you pack? Why did you bring graham crackers? Where are you going? What are you going to do? You should go to the kids science museam when you're in San Fran, it's cool." 

This is Amber. I'm so so glad we're friends. You know those friends? The ones you can spend an hour with and feel so filled up inside and known? That's the way I feel with her. Sweet time always.

I drove, and drove and drove some more. Isn't the landscape pretty! 

Nighttime tour of San Francisco. Morgan showed me around. She lives right at the base of the bridge. It's amazing here. 

Collected Style: Couch Pillows

The other day a friend of mine described my style as one that took time to collect. I have a story about almost everything in my house. It's true, I've collected the style of my home piece by piece. 

I love nothing much more than diving into a wonderful Saturday morning estate sale. The older the stuff, the better. Most of the things I love most have come to me by way of an estate sale, costing me between $1-$20. I started collecting things here and there when i moved out of my parent's house and into my own place when I was 20 years old. I didn't have the money to buy much, but loved interior design. Decorating on a budget led me to find my way to these cool sales.

I mix new things with old things and it's creating a colorful space to live in and invite others to rest in too. It's not just Estate Sales, but things I find as I pop into this or that store. I don't want to buy it all at once. Collecting your style takes time. Buying it all at once leaves you with a house that looks a little more like a Pottery Barn catalogue than your unique space.

Today I recieved my first Fab.com order in the mail. I ordered two pillows for a very low price. So great! If you haven't signed up for Fab.com's emails, I think you should. I have liked looking through what they put out there each day. It's similar to other online shopping outfits like One Kings Lane. You get a daily email with deals that last a few days and limited resources. Everything's on sale and nothing is ever hum-drum. You can count on unique items you don't see everyday. It's like Groupon meets QVC I suppose. 

Pillows are a great way to change things up. I always move them around and change them in and out based on the time of year. Mix in orange in the fall, red at Christmas and bright colors for the spring and summer. The pillows on this couch are an ecclectic group of colors, but I think they work really well. In person, it's even better. Here's the story of this collected style: 

Left to right: 

Velvet Quilted Eggplant pillows: clearance at Pottery Barn a few years ago. These are my achor. They're always on my couch through every season.

Hot pink ruffle pillow: I found this in the teen bedding section at Target. Yup. Total find. Where else will you find a wonderful hot pink pillow covered in ruffles? Mixed in, it totally works as a surprise splash of vibrant color.

Round velvet tufted pillow: Clearance item at the end of an isle once at Target a few years back. I bought 3. I think Frankie has officially chewed 1 of them, leaving me with 2. 

Grey & Bright Green Pattern LInen PIllow: These are the Fab.com pillows. Aren't the fab?! ;) I think they add a punch of color and the pattern breaks up all the solids.

Charcoal Grey Velvet: I found this gem at World Market. They have a great selection of velvet pillows for 9.95 or something super reasonable like that. I think they have them in at least 10 colors. I picked them up when I was about to have company over a few months ago to spruce things up a bit. I'm a fan.

I purchased these navy velvet slip-covered couches 12 years ago. I moved out into my own place, I was 20 years old, and decided that with the money I had set aside I would buy great couches. Great couches attract good friends and conversations. I'm convinced. If you have been my friend for a few years, you know that these couches are a cozy part of life in my living room...back in Toluca Lake and now in my new house. 

More collected style posts to come! :) I hope this inspires you to create things the way you like them...you make the rules! Go shop the teen section of Target...you just might find something great! ;) 

My rules for this space: buy neutral bases (walls, couches, floors, expensive pieces, etc) and then accent with bright colorful pieces that can be changed in and out. 

 

 

 

Everyday. Everything. I am yours.

It's an ordinary Monday. My day off. I'm still getting out of the house, but it really doesn't matter what I get done...as long as I rest. I have learned a lot about how I tick over the last few years. I know that to be on and give out as much as I do I have to be vigilent about having plenty of quiet down time to reflect and recharge. 

I used to think I was a city girl. I guess there is a part of me who is. I love cities. I love all of the people, creativity, and noise...but I am better not to live in the middle of it all.

When I'm at my best, I'm in the midst of nature. The way these mountains, this ocean, and these hidden secret streams calm my soul is like no other. I'm grateful. I'm in awe. 

To the Maker of the skies and mountains, beauty and redemption...I am yours. I am totally yours. You are the One and Only God. I will serve you all the days of my life. You are worthy of our everything. 

 

How Questions Lead to Stories.

It's not everyday that I find Estate Sales that I love. Today I did. I was so excited. 

I love repurposing someone's once loved things. I especially love finding vintage glass and christmas decorations. Today I found both in one place! Score one for my team!! 

I looked over to the side and found these hand made vintage ornaments. I can't wait to create a super cool vintage christmas tree next year. 

The lady who made them just passed away and there was her grandson, Houston, in the driveway selling her things. He said he was most interested in them finding good homes. 

I asked about the ornaments and he shared her story. He said that his grandma was an amazing woman with a beautiful heart. 

"I think these were probably a craft project that she did with all of her foster kids. She rescued over 250 kids until she adopted my uncle because he had special needs. He lived 18 years...and he was only expected to live 2." 

I could tell that the soul of this family was deep and full of life. I told him I would cherish these ornaments and give them a good home. 

I love to hear the story. Everyone has one. It's our job to ask good questions. Today, I heard such beautiful answers.

I'm so sorry you lost your grandma. 

Houston invited me to stop by the local Starbucks where he works. I promised to bring a picture of the tree this December.

"Oh that would be so wonderful. Right now my mom can't stop crying to be out here, but I know that she'll cherish that later."

Grateful for a good day garage sale shopping. Good curious questions lead to stories.

In Honor of My Pretty Mama.

My mom is one of my favorite people. I'm so glad she's mine.

In tender moments I recollect that this is the woman who taught me to tie my shoes, worked so hard teaching Kindergarten and 1st graders all day...and came home to one too. She taught us to pray when you hear a siren (I still do), to imagine that Jesus was sitting by you (because he is), to use your words and not your fists. She was there for me when all the friend dramas went down and always told me to "consider the source" when my feelings were hurt. 

My mom has a great sense of humor. I love when she starts laughing and can't stop because one of my characters has started a parody of someone. Marta the hairdresser is always a great go-to. "Miss Trish, you are so beautiful! Why you let your hair go so grey? We fix this right away. You sit still..." (and then I would apply the hair color) Now she pays someone to do this and Marta is out of work. We laugh so hard together.

When my mom held me in her arms for the first time she promised we'd be great friends. She said she would take me shopping and go out to lunch, and so we do.  I take her up on this the day after Christmas. It's one of my favorite days of the year. Sure I like the shopping and the lunching, but most of all I love a good 8-10 hours of mommy-daughter time the most. No boys. No interruptions. Just us. Some years my grandma came too. We miss her every year when we're in a Macy's dressing room. I know my mom misses her everyday. 

The cool thing is that my mom has mastered the balance of being a mom who is like a friend...not a friend who happens to be my mom. I'm glad for this. I need a mom...I have lots of friends. I see moms who just want to be friends with their kids and I am sad that they give up such an essential role. Thank you mom for your willingness through the years to do the dirty work of saying no, of telling the truth, and letting me have some space as I grew up.

When I was a teenager, I discovered my mom was mischievous. She taught me how to short sheet a bed and play pranks while away at Job's Daughters retreats. My mom also stays up late...and by late I mean usually midnight or 1am. We have had decades of late night chats on the phone or on the couch. We both love vanilla tea. 

In middle school I must've tried out a thousand identities. I tye-dyed my shirts, I ripped my jeans, I wore black with flannels around my waist. There was a little too much eyeliner sometimes, and the few weeks I borrowed a friend's Doc Martens. One year I spent my school clothes money on some ridiculous and ripped up oversized overalls from a thrift store. I think they were 50 dollars. My mom rarely protested. She knew her creative girl would have to explore a bit.  (Okay, she definitely did not like the overalls)

The time I came home, I think it was the summer before 7th grade, proclaiming that I planned to dye my hair red or burgundy or something like that. Instead of trying to convince me that my chestnut brown hair was just fine, she told me that I would not be dying my hair. She would. We went to the store and she helped me pick out a pretty color of redish mahogony. It would be in my hair for 20 washes. She promised that if I loved it we could go longer, but this would be the start. I felt so alive and different when my hair was darker red. It expressed something a in me that I needed to say. It's funny, and maybe a little silly, but this was an important moment for me. It was my mom saying "I see you. I give you freedom to be Kristie." I am so grateful. 

I could list a thousand memories and moments I am grateful for. I could go on and on about pinics in the backyard under the nectarine tree, the way she always sings weird TV theme songs under her breath in the grocery store, her beautiful smile, kind heart, and sacrificial ways. 

I'm grateful to call Trish Vosper my mom. Happy Mother's Day to an incredible woman. See you today at church! I'm looking forward to lunch after. 

I love you more.

KV

Evidence of Life: Flowers in the canyon, hip hop on the beach.

The flowers are blooming in the midst of the canyons of Malibu right now. Today I saw a whole row of bright pink along Topanga, and Malibu Canyon is covered in beautiful yellow clouds of mustard all tangled inbetween vibrant green grass. New life again. 

Spring in the canyons of Malibu feels a lot like a Ray Lamontagne song, or a Joni Mitchell tune. I love the way everyone seems to come out to play and throw parties in their backyards with wine and their grills are used again along with firepits, and everyone stays up later and clears their schedule for some fun. Winter is over and everything feels more alive and at the same time slower and deep. 

I've had two well spent meandering days. I find freedom in my heart when my calendar isn't too full and there is room for spontaneity, whimsy, and the moments that seem to happen like they were all planned out by God in the first place. It seems when I don't plan my life too much, it gives Him some space to. Do you sense that in your life too?

This time of year I believe in keeping a beach chair in my car. You just never know when you'll want to put your feet in the sand for an hour. If I have the beach chair handy...I will do this. If I don't have a beach chair, I will lovingly covet my friends' private beach club memberships and their piles of unplanned easy beach chairs and drive past the public beach access spots and never touch the sand.

Yesterday, I had the beach chair and some time...so I made it happen. I went to put my feet in the sand. I went to CVS, bought some 3x5 cards to write ideas for a writing project on and some m&ms. I found a perfect spot in the sand and settled in. I wrote and soaked in the sun and into the moment.

Suddenly a group of 20somethings with their boom box, beer in Snapple bottles, and loudness came and put all of their regaila directly in front of me blocking most of my view. There were a thousand other places they could have found as their beach towel home, but they chose to plant their overrated reality show right in front of me. Sigh. 

I had to choose to get pissed and move, or just take it in stride. Since I have not yet added sunscreen to the group of things I keep in my car for these beach trips, this Irish girl knows that there is should be a very short window in the sand anyway. I decided to thank God that He had made these characters even if their stories were all interrupting mine. I was glad they were alive and healthy and enjoying the beach even if they were totally unware of how totally annoying they were to me. I think it's all in how we look at things...and knowing all the people who don't get to enjoy life and sunshine days at the beach, these annoyances should not be the main thing...they really shouldn't interrupt or rob my peace.  Thankfully, yesterday they didn't. Not a chance. It was all too good to be taken.

That evening, I drove the canyons to two gatherings of friends and found my heart at peace and full of gratitude. Fire pits and carefully hung strands of white lights made the whole day end with a bit of depth and whimsy all tangled together.

Malibu is like your misunderstood friend. She's like the girl people look at and assume she's just too beautiful to have any inner beauty or depth. She's judged by her celebrity or wealth, summed up as a tabloid would do, missing the real truth and story. When you drive deep into the canyons and homes of Malibu and have dinner with her people, you'll find what I've found: community, depth, kindness, creativity, freedom and love. 

So I am grateful. This weekend I made the space to connect with the Starbucks manager whose daughter sings songs with me at the preschool on Wednesday mornings and hear more of her story.  I made sure to smile and look in the eyes of the little girl in the grocery store who was being ignored by her dad who doesn't seem to know what to do with her on "his weekend." The life happening all around us wants a companion, begs us to notice and enter into the moments that are the richest part anyway.

A day by day, moment by moment life is the kind that we all are hoping for anyway and the thing is...it's already here. 

"Consider the lilies of the field, they do not store away in barns and yet they are clothed." It seems to me that a quiet life of true connection and peace comes when we lean in and don't worry about tomorrow because we believe that this very day is it's own ordinary wonderful gift...even if it is interrupted for a moment by drunk college hip hop on the beach.