Shannon's Corner

  SHANNON’S CORNER HOPE OF THE WORLD! Jesus is the reason for this Christmas season. He is our Prince of Peace, our joy to the world, and love that came down. Jesus has already come as a baby, Messiah and Savior and he is yet to come as our King of kings and Lord of lords.  Are you ready to receive?  Are you eagerly anticipating his coming again? We as adults can many times make things so complex and complicated when it is really, simple.  As I was preparing for the Third Culture Kid debrief, I had many games and activities ready in my arsenal to use, yet what was needed was time to just be kids and play.  The family just recently got back to the US, so they were in the throes of transition in hitting the ground running with the holidays, seeing family, supporters, and friends.  The kids needed a space for them to use their imaginations and creativity.  Play gave them back some control in all the chaos of uncertainty in the transiti...

  The Christmas season should be a time of joy and celebration but for some it is a time of loss, sadness, and grief.   My first Christmas living overseas brought a lot of loss and grief that I did not expect. I was caught unawares. The things I associate with Christmas and the holiday season were not there, not available, or were just different.  Celebrating Christmas in 90-degree weather when putting up Christmas tree and decorations instead of the cold and snow. A different type of 'cozy and warm' feeling. As I would walk the streets of my neighborhood, the outside Christmas lights would be on no matter what time of day and playing bits of Christmas songs not at all in sync and not the whole song or chorus. The noise at first was jarring and then you would have all these partial Christmas songs playing through your head on a sound loop.  One of the big things I associate Christmas are the tastes, smells, and even the feel of things. Not being able to find the ingr...

  Transitions during the holidays can be quite stressful from all the demands, expectations, travel, delays, buying, decorating, baking, wrapping, long lines, lack of sleep, and the list goes on and on.    How can you have a positive experience this holiday season?  What kind of person are you usually during the holiday season? What kind of person do you want to be this holiday season? On a scale of one to ten (1=low expectations, 10=very high expectations), rate where your expectations are for the holidays. If your expectations are a six or higher, what is one thing you can do to lower those expectations? What is one thing you can do to reduce you r stress?   Taking a few moments today to pause and reflect on these questions can help to shift your mindset of who you want to be, what is realistic, and how to have a positive experience during this holiday season. And if things come unexpectedly, you are more able to navigate and manage it instead of it being the ...

  As a nurse, when teaching health education to my patients and their families there were times when I would ask questions to make sure that they were understanding the information, and sometimes I would get blank stares or even very short answers. Then there were times when the same patient or family member would give a longer explanation to my questions. I didn’t know then what I now have learned about having the right keys.   A life coach helps their client’s process by providing the keys to help unlock their client’s potential. Asking the right questions will aid in their process of learning, understanding, growing, and adapting in order to achieve their goal. The “Why” questions help to bring meaning, purpose, and reasoning. The “What” questions help to bring concepts, actions, and details. The “How” questions help to bring skills, methods, and operations. The "What if" questions help to bring adaptation, imagination, curiosity, and risks. How important it is to have the...

   SHANNON’S CORNER Happy Thanksgiving! “You only have today what you were thankful for yesterday.” How would that change your perspective of being thankful for all things?     Have you ever thought what is the difference between thankfulness and gratefulness? Being thankful is a response to what we have received. Gratefulness is a way of life that we choose without the need for someone else to do something for us.     There is power in gratitude.     The most important reason for cultivating an attitude of gratefulness is it glorifies God who is the Giver of life.    What steps are you taking to practice gratitude? I am thankful and grateful for the opportunity to share in person with Faith Fellowship Church of Rimersburg of God’s goodness and faithfulness in investing in the lives of those serving on the frontlines of ministry.  Over this past year, we have ministered and served people who are on the frontlines proclaimi...

  Have you ever experienced a time when you lost your confidence or being competent that it affected your identity?   In the excitement and adventure of finally being able to do the assignment that I felt God had assigned for me, I did not realize nor anticipate all the losses I would encounter along the way. My focus primarily was on being part of a team and being able to use my gift and skills of nursing to care and love on those kids. Those first few years as I was learning the Spanish language and culture, I did not realize nor understand the effect of not being able to communicate professionally would have on my personhood.    In caring for the kids at the children’s home, I could do what needed to be done for them medically without needing to communicate professionally.  When they needed to go to see the doctor, I would try to communicate what the complaint and the symptoms were to receive the care the kids needed, but what ended coming out was me spe...

Have you ever walked on a swinging bridge? What does it feel like? How do you feel when on a swinging bridge? My family and I did a lot of hiking on our family vacations through some beautiful forests in the eastern states on the east side of the Mississippi River. One of the hikes I remember most, and probably because we visited it the most was a trail in Cook Forest, PA in the Allegheny National Forest that had a swinging bridge. I loved walking on that bridge as it moved and I would even do my best to make the bridge move by running, jumping, or swaying back and forth. It is the oddest sensation of trying to walk while the bridge is moving beneath your feet. Some people would be holding onto the railing as they crossed the bridge so they would not fall or misstep. Others would cross it quickly to be done with it. Some would wait until the bridge was clear of people, so they could cross it in peace. This bridge in particular served to connect one trail to another trail.    O...