Many people want to feel emotionally and spiritually well, but aren’t always sure how to get there. The Plumline blog offers practical guidance that will help you get unstuck, find rest, and experience peace.
Kicking Codependency & Experiencing Healthy Relationships
Codependency is all too common. What’s worse, it keeps you from experiencing healthy and mutual relationships with those who matter most. Here’s what codependency is: codependency is excessive emotional or psychological reliance on another. How do you know if codependency is true for you in your relationships? Here are five symptoms: You feel responsible for other’s needs and problems You can’t handle being misunderstood or must clarify when misunderstood You can’t bear when others have
The Weekender’s Guide to Restoration
Chances are, you worked your tail off this week. As you head into this weekend, here is the question: Will your weekend be one of reprieve, or one of restoration? Here is the difference: Reprieve is when you take a temporary break from the pressures of life. You have a few drinks, you watch a lot of TV, you mindlessly scroll on your phone. . . The problem is, at some point you have to
When You Practice Presence, Everyone Benefits
In this caffeinated world we find ourselves in, it is so easy to lose yourself in all of life’s demands. There is even a temptation to double down on hurry and anxiety in order to make it to the bottom of your list. Here’s the problem with hurrying through life to get it all done: It doesn’t really work. Even if you DO check the list, pay the bills, and get everyone fed, what is
The Way Through “Church Hurt”
Have you experienced “Church Hurt?” This subject isn’t everyone’s favorite to talk about, but it is a CRITICAL CONVERSATION that must be had. This is what “Church Hurt” is: Church Hurt is the feeling you have when someone in the church harms you emotionally, spiritually, mentally, or physically. This hurt is particularly painful, especially when the people that harmed you were supposed to be representing the heart of God here on earth. . . While
The Dark Side of “The Bright Side”
Have you ever experienced the following scenario: You open up about a recent disappointment, only to be told how you should, “Look on the bright side?” Then, they remind you that someone else has it worse. . . Let’s be real, the proper human response to hurt isn’t gratefulness or even positivity. The proper response is more like, “OW, this hurts.” The world is full of toxic positivity, pretending to be hope. Yet, maybe the
Losing Religion & Finding Jesus
Perhaps you have experienced a version of religion that feels demanding and exhausting? It feels like when an institution demands you practice your faith a certain way, insisting their process is the only way, and their secondary (or tertiary) theological emphases must be prioritized while undervaluing the core tenets of true Christianity. There is an easy yoke right in front of you that is being offered by Jesus himself. But to carry his light burden,
What type of soil is in your heart right now?
Sometimes when I ask people how they are doing, they respond by saying, “I’m crushing it.” They are not wrong. Driven forward by The Smothering Grind, they are crushing the life out of their lives. I’ve written about how The Grind pushes us into burnout, flame out, and tapping out. Now it’s time to talk about how to silence his villainous lies so we can become who we truly are and live the lives God
The Grind wants you to tap out
Over the past two weeks, I’ve described some of the ways The Smothering Grind of Life kills our joy and sabotages our lives. We looked at burnout, that state of mental, physical, and spiritual exhaustion. Then we looked at flameout, which happens when dissatisfaction with our lives drives us to sabotage ourselves. This week, it’s time to look at the most insidious of all The Grind’s intentions for you: tapping out. Unlike burnout (which drains)
The Grind wants you to flame out
Last week, I wrote about how The Smothering Grind of Life drives us into burnout – a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. But here’s the sobering truth: The Grind is not content with simply exhausting us. While it loves to render you useless with burnout, it wants to destroy everything you’ve built and the things which matter to you the most. The Grind wants you to flame out. Pushing you toward self-sabotage, moral
The Grind’s first destination: burnout
I’ve written a few times this year about a villain I call “The Smothering Grind of Life.” The Grind shows up in many different shapes and sizes. It’s the pressure businessmen feel to work late, avoid using personal days, and constantly monitor their emails while on vacation. It’s the guilt that moms feel when their kids don’t make the travel ball team or deliver a 4.3 GPA. It’s the fear that ministry leaders feel when
The 4 parts of our spiritual anatomy
“We have been designed by God to live, love, and lead with uniquely designed parts.” Instinctively, we know this is true. However, a lot of teaching on this topic – teaching that often centers on the concept of “calling” – leads us into confusion. We’re told that we need to search and pray that God makes our calling clear to us, as if our true identity is somewhere out there. Jesus didn’t talk that way.
What does “spiritual anatomy” mean?
If you’re new to Plumline, you might be wondering what we mean when we talk about your “spiritual anatomy.” That’s a fair question! Last we checked, biology textbooks don’t make any mention of it. In those high school science classes, we learned that our bodies are made of systems: each of us has a respiratory system, and a circulatory system, and a skeletal system, etc. Working together, these systems keep us alive and keep us
