Two years ago, on a course with 30 other young leaders, my mind wandered and I disctincly remember seeing a picture of myself madly trying to plaster over cracks.

I felt God speak.

 

Clare, you keep trying to mend the cracks that appear in your life
I hate to break it to you, but what you’re doing is futile…
They’re not just surface cracks, they are as deep as the Grand Canyon.
You’re not something that can be smoothed out.
Your experiences, hurts, joys and beautiful outlook aren’t meant to be fixed.
People don’t marvel at a mended crack in the road.
But they do at the Grand Canyon.
That enormous, deep, dangerous, beautiful canyon.
With its big stories and long history, paths at the top, river at the bottom.
Open to explore and interact with.
That’s what I want for your heart, openness for all who interact with you.
Let them down to the depths.
Let them see the heights.
Let them see how I can make broken things beautiful.

 

So to those that are weary from trying to keep up appearances…
To those that are tired of smoothing over their personality…
To those who keep trying to deny the marks their experiences have left on their soul…

Greetings from the Grand Canyon! Wish you were here.

xx

She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.

J. D. Salinger

I get asked about these so often I’m going to write about them here.

For 2.5years now, we’ve been using cloth nappies for our boys. It was a big initial investment, that I hoped would pay off and it totally has!

Here’s what we use, tips for making it work in a busy home and my answers to the FAQs I get asked the most…

Continue reading →

A friend mentioned last week that breaking up is rarely talked about in Christian circles. They wondered if the fear/awkwardness of a break up was contributing to the lack of dating in their crew. I dunno if that’s a main reason, but it can’t hurt to talk about it, right? Like all matters of the heart, it’s better to be on the front foot and entering the fray, than guessing from the sidelines and never getting amongst it.

So let’s call it, breaking up SUCKS, no one wins but it does happen and you want to make it as least sucky as possible… So here’s my humble offering on how to do it well. From the gal who has been the breaker x2 and the breakee x2. Continue reading →