Author Archives: sharonbernhardt

In the midst of the Leadership Focus program I am currently in, we had to complete a thorough and detailed personality assessment. The findings made a lot of sense to me. I’m not a visionary or a dreamer. I found that I am not strong at formulating goals for a program and pushing people forwardContinue reading “Behind the Dreamers”

This morning the thoughts swirling in my mind feel like a bizarre modernist painting, splashes going in all directions from a center point- me. As I seek to grab a strand of thought, one brilliant color from the splash, I pick “change”. I think humans don’t like change, because we don’t want to accept andContinue reading “Impermanence”

It bubbled and gurgled, welled from the deep A laugh that was tumbling, climbing so steep It clutched on the edge and rumbled on through And as it exploded, there was nothing to do But join in the giggles that made his face red For it is through laughter that our hearts are fed.

Somewhere along the way We have lost The essence The key To our common humanity Somewhere along the way We have lost What it means to be human To be a unique and fearfully made Image-bearer Somewhere along the way We have lost The value The priceless worth Of the human body and soul  Continue reading “Somewhere Along the Way”

  So many people I love are going through tough things right now—terrible and devastating events that change one’s life forever—that cannot be fixed. Nothing will make it better and as a friend and a family member I just feel helpless.  As I have walked through these things with them in the last few weeks,Continue reading “Focus”

Since the garden, blame has been a part of the human experience. “She made me do it…” Its tough to be accountable for our actions.  I hear it almost daily in my house.  “Why did you hit your brother?”…”He started it!!!” I was writing this week about the challenging story of Dinah and Shechem (Gen. 34).Continue reading “Fault?”

My love affair (??) with jogging began a long long time ago–in the spring of 1993 to be exact.  I was a freshman in college and I had to take a “Walk/Jog” class.  We jogged around the inside of the gymnasium, we jogged around the Nursery-College Road block, and we jogged around the inside ofContinue reading “Love Affair? Really?”

Honestly, life here is easier than where we lived before.  We adapted and came to love where we were, but it took its toll in many ways.  There were challenges about it that we just don’t have to deal with now.   For example, it is more clean here.  We were sick a lot theContinue reading “Catch a Glimpse”

We were contemplating what to do for our Christmas vacation.  We thought about visiting an island in Thailand, but then we found tickets from KL to Yogyakarta for the same price.  It felt a little early to go back to Java, but when we weighed going somewhere new or going to a place that wasContinue reading “Lessons on a Trip”

This Saturday afternoon we made our weekly shopping trip to the large grocery store near our home.  It has a Walmart kind of feel to it–and a warehouse kind of feel to it.  It was insanely busy.  The lines were long and there were tons of people.  When we arrived, they were out of carts.Continue reading “He Shows Up”