The first week of August I attended a virtual conference for my job. It is called the Global Leadership Summit. I attend it annually and it is soooo good. It always gives me a little refresh and kick-start after the summer. I had the privilege of hearing Coach Mike Krzyzewski speak, the former Men’s Head […]

I could NOT believe my eyes, what was once a beautiful canopy of shade trees, vines, bushes, and ground cover was gone. The shelter of the Majestic Oaks is gone! I ran with my bestie and I kept saying, “Margaret I cannot believe this, this is so sad. It is unrecognizable.” As we ran the […]

A tornado hit my little Bartlesville and my beautiful trail where I run was hit. It was closed for weeks! I have run on the section of the Pathfinder starting at the high school trailhead, for years! I know the path like the back of my hand. I am comfortable on my little 3-mile path. Out and […]

I recently was in Colorado and toured the Argo Mill and Mine. It was fascinating hearing about the mine that was built in the 1800’s, seeing the process, taking in the old structures, and hearing the stories of the people that worked in the mine. The mine was a dangerous place to work and the […]

In the West, we often tend to think in straight linear lines. We want problems, 1 + 1= 2, and we want to know the “right” way to solve the problem and then do it. We want our laws, rules, and religion to easily explain all truth and what is right and wrong. We are […]

You know what? I can be really insecure about writing because I am horrible with phonics! I cannot spell to save my life! One of the scariest things in the world for me is to have to read out loud in front of people or to stand at a whiteboard and spell things. So that […]

I have a deep desire to have riches. I grew up rockin’ to the Calloway song “I wanna be rich!” And this is America and what we do right- acquire wealth in the land of opportunity. In my old age of 41, I am starting to see some things more clearly. There are only 24 […]

I boarded a plane in Tulsa headed to Atlanta and sat next to a lady maybe around my mother’s age. We said hello and I sat down. We didn’t engage in conversation but just settled in for our flight. I noticed after a while her writing on a small piece of paper a list of “Things […]

It was 90 degrees today here in Oklahoma on April 14! The sun was calling us, so my boys and I went to Copan Lake. As they played and wrestled through the water, I sat with my feet in the sand and wrote this thought for you… I like so many others would like a […]

I used to not like the worship song “Echo.” I thought it was silly. I think it was the word “Echo” and the techno beat, I just couldn’t get into it.  But then I heard an acoustic version and the words snatched me. “In every season, You keep repeating Promises to me, Now there’s no […]

I am having a Spring Break garage sale trying to get rid of things because my new home my daddy is building me is almost DONE! We can’t believe it. The fastest build ever! I started setting up the sale on Sunday afternoon and left all my stuff outside overnight. My boys were really worried […]

I walked up to the lot and new fresh cut lumber was lying there ready to take its form. The scent filled my senses and oh the nostalgia of the smell of wood and sawdust. I grew up watching my dad build houses, and create things from the ground up, using scraps to make shelves, […]

I had just come from singing at a funeral, I was emotionally and mentally exhausted and had some relational drama happening in my life. I called my bestie and said can we go get some comfort food? We went out to eat and she snapped this picture of me at our table. She said, “You […]

I sat in a team meeting Monday morning as we gave updates… One teammate is undergoing chemotherapy and was not feeling well enough to attend. Another teammate had a tumor found on his brain and another needs tests for some heart issues. And yet another with a wife who has been dealing with a chronic […]

I was checking out at Lowes last night; it is time to plant my summer garden. It was apparent the young man checking me out had some special needs, his speech was a bit impaired, but he was easily understood and so pleasant and kind. As he scanned my okra, peppers, zucchini, and herbs, he […]

I don’t like the word sin. When I found out my baby’s heart wasn’t beating the doctor came back into the room to a tearful distraught woman, he tried to tell me about the next steps and my options. He finished and sighed a deep sigh and said, “can I pray for you?” Full of […]

My poor friends had to hear me whine and cry a lot about trying to understand my journey when it seemed nothing was happening, when I felt I was in the desert, when I felt that I was not getting to live out my life call of helping develop women and girls. There were long […]

As I spend time with women, friends, and colleagues, I am becoming more and more convinced that our cultural climate is something that should be scrutinized and pushed against and we should make every effort to resist the many temptations and norms thrown at us, why? Because it is so unhealthy and therefore so are […]

As I ran on our beautiful pathfinder today, I took in the new sights of Spring arriving. The birds’ songs have become loud and vociferous, as blue jays, cardinals, and scissor tails, swoop, and dance from the tree branches. I heard a woodpecker overhead, a fantastic, intriguing sound, that everyone should get the privilege to […]

I ran today after over two months of nursing a sprained ankle. If you read my blog “Own your walk of pain,” it tells the whole story. The temperatures turned this week, and it was glorious outside today. Seventy-One degrees and March 1, 2022, I’ll take it! After not running for two months, uh you […]

I was having a crabby day. Feeling disappointed in life about a few things and knew it was just one of those days, a day to just let myself feel without falling too deep. I decided I needed a run to get my oxytocin pumping. And I needed to share with a few people how […]

Non-Essential…I run on the Pathfinder Bartlesville, Ok amongst the trees, and realized how much I need them, how they serve me and keep me alive. As I pondered all the ways in which our climate, animals, wind, sea, sky, stars, magnetic poles all interact with each other, I was hit with a truth that I […]

I was pondering Yeshua and some of the moments in his life when he stood up against power. I was struck by the story we usually refer to as “the woman caught in adulty.” Normally when we talk about this story, we talk about how church people bring her to Yeshua and ask him, “what […]

I don’t ever feel like I need a vacation nor do I want one! I once heard a talk about how in the USA we are given vacations but in other countries, they go on Holiday or Celebrate Holiday. The word vacation comes from the word vacate. Our posture toward vacation often is to vacate […]

Never Alone….I woke up and was fine. After rising and starting my day it did not take long and the tightness in my chest was back. I was walking around my house and would find myself taking deep breaths like I was trying to get more oxygen. I would start to feel my heartbeat accelerating […]

Like gnats at dusk…. spit that Sh-t out! I have been running in the evenings these days. It is a nice change, as the chorus of locust cheer me on and the fireflies put on a sparkle light show. But the gnats, ya’ll! What is their purpose in life? Why do they swarm in bunches […]

The flowers on my table had dried up and I decided it was time to throw them away. The next morning, I went for a run and came back to a new bouquet on my table. It had a note from my parents telling me they loved me. I went away for a week to […]

I had never been to Clearwater, Florida before. Many had told me of the powder white sand and “clear” water that I needed to experience, and it was everything they had prepared my expectations for. I sat on the beach watching my boys play and fight, let’s be real!

I was numb, crying, thinking of my boys and how broken hearted they would be about this news. Their little precious souls are too young to have to face this cold, harsh, part of life. Can I protect them from this for a little while longer? From the sting that life can give unexpectedly and […]

On the pathfinder where I run in Bartlesville, Ok, there is a bridge that goes over the Caney River. It is beautiful. Some days I just run out and back to the fallen mossy tree and some days I run all the way across both the wooden bridge and the green bridge all the way to Silver Lake Road.

2020 has been a difficult year – for all of us. I went through another difficult year. For me, it was my most difficult year ever. For many 2020 has been a year of devastation, for me, my devastation came a few years previous.  It was the kind of experience that might be described as ashes. […]

The wrestling, the wrestling, the wrestling. You never count on the brawl. It sneaks up from a dark alley, and suddenly…there you are flat on your back. You have no idea what just hit you.

Fall is such a special time when you live in a state where the leaves turn colors. We all anticipate the cool crisp air that makes you want to be outside, huddled around a campfire with friends with apple cider in one hand and a skewer in the other roasting marshmallows.    The things that make […]

I had resisted the idea of “A Safe Place” for a long time. I thought it was pretty unreasonable in light of a very dangerous, cruel world. The masses are not safe and life is not going to be safe. As I would hear people advocating for workplaces to be safe and wanting emotional safety, […]