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Choosing the right path: answering the question

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | April 19, 2022

In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. ~ Proverbs 3:6 How do you know you’re on the right path? The closed doors—or in our case a power outage—seem obvious. Yet what about when details fall into place, doors open, it looks like a done deal and then wham!? You faceplant…

Playing it safe: making excuses or missing out?

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | April 12, 2022

As my feet inched closer to the edge of a recent and long-overdue leap, I looked down: no net. A vivid reminder of that morning when, as a young girl, I ascended the rungs of the tallest ladder at the public pool. Knees knocking, I shuffled across the diving board until I faced the vast…

A call to action: setting the wheels in motion

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | April 5, 2022

A few weeks ago, I ran across a meme on social media filled with words I needed to hear. Maybe you do, too. Basically, you wouldn’t plant a seed, and then dig it up every few minutes to see if it grew. Right? So why do we insist on second-guessing ourselves? Our hard work? Our…

Synchronicity at work: trusting the power of prayer

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | March 29, 2022

syn·chro·nic·i·ty | \ ˌsiŋ-krə-ˈni-sə-tē , ˌsin- \ plural synchronicities: the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events… that seem related but are not explained by conventional mechanisms of causality… ~ Merriam Webster In my post, “Divine interruptions,” I wrote about a power outage—an incident that occurred summer of 2021 when my husband and I…

Strength in the tongue: speaking life into our dreams

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | March 22, 2022

Once upon a time, a middle-aged wife and mother dreamed of being a princess. But not just any princess: one who often swapped out miles of tulle and a tiara for horse duds and Stetson. Plus, she teaches yoga and guides nature hikes on the side. Yet her biggest aspiration always entailed becoming a published…

The truest thing I can tell you: the gift of today

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | March 15, 2022

While I believe it’s always the write time for hope, humor & heart, oftentimes grief shows up at our doors without invitation. An emotion that follows no rules—no “how to” manual—I’ve heard grief described as a “sucker punch” by one, and as a wake-up call by another. In my own life, grief recently paid a…

That little extra push: remembering your why

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | March 8, 2022

What’s one thing that motivates you to get out of bed each morning? For me, it’s a call to sprinkle hope, humor & heart through my writing. But whatever our “why,” it can prove hard to keep pressing forward when results remain elusive. For instance, last year I submitted six stories to a few publications…

Leveraging the most of our time: pressing into the wait

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | March 1, 2022

We’ve all likely heard the directive to “be patient” at least once in our lives. It might even be a situation that required us to “wait on the Lord.” Waiting is hard stuff. But what if we could leverage that time to our advantage by eliminating distractions that sidetrack us and then—with intention, or actively—press…

Creating a roadmap: a new kind of ‘en-vision’ board

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | February 22, 2022

Years ago, I attended a vision board workshop, filling my blank page with magazine clippings—images, words and phrases that resonated with me. A few years later, I was invited to another workshop involving more of the same—aspirations I hoped for, encouraging expressions, go get ‘ems. Yet neither instance presented any tangibles for me to strive…

Leaving a legacy of love: intangible expressions that promote life

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | February 15, 2022

Where there is love, there is life. ~ Mahatma Gandhi One of my favorite descriptions of love is found in the Bible: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it…

Divine interruptions: when to take that leap of faith

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | February 8, 2022

What do a power outage and a leaky roof have in common? In my household, the former (another blog post in itself) put a stop to plans, or movement, my husband and I set in motion this past summer. And the latter instigated movement—thanks to a downpour delivered on Christmas Eve straight into our kitchen…

A youthful spirit: redefining ‘adventure’

By ChrisMadaySchmidt | February 1, 2022

Someone recently told me: “You know you’re getting old when… homemade Chex Mix excites you.” Instead of a precursor to old age, however, I prefer to classify it as “childlike appreciation” for the simple things—a youthful spirit unburdened by the trappings of commercialism, materialism and “comparisonism.” As I navigate the latter half of Club 50…