In this video message and our quest to live a simple life, we question how do we go back to things being normal when "normal" wasn't working for us.

How do we live a simple life and remove all the "busy-ness" that has been weighing us down.

As I found solace in this quiet, cleaned out space, I couldn’t help but think about areas in my life that could use some rearranging as well.

There is no doubt we are facing times none of us could have ever imagined.

But we are also faced with some new opportunities.

Just being kind. Being kind in simple ways that can make a big difference.

The truth is, opposites might attract but that is not what keeps us together.

As we look ahead into the unknown, they want to know how to have faith they can make it on their own. They need to know I know they can, and that “I learned it from you!”

I needed patience, kindness, and understanding, with no prerequisites to deserve it.

But that’s the thing about being beautiful. I don’t care who you are, what you look like, what you’re going through, I don’t care if your hair is done or not, I don’t care if you got enough sleep or not, I don’t care if you’ve been crying all day, being beautiful is an inside job!

This year, this decade, I choose to be free!

I joke with my friends and say that I keep my expectations low so that I am not disappointed. That’s the short version of it, but the longer version is to mix hope and optimism with a little wisdom and experience.

I have learned that it’s not that my faith is too small or that God is not listening, it just may be that I am trying to move a mountain that wasn’t mine to move in the first place.

I have realized that in this life, we really only have one job. We have one single job to do and that is to get ourselves, our spouses, and our kids into heaven. That’s it. One job.

And I loved the reminder she left for me. The truth is, she reminded me to just be her mom.

There is no such thing as perfect parenting.

If you are in doubt, I can assure you that if there were such a thing, whoever came up with it would be a gajillionaire right now! We would have all read the book, we would have all listened to the podcast, and we would have all attended the weekend-long event. But that hasn’t happened because there is no such thing.

We can approach our days with a little more patience and a little more experience and a little more wisdom than the day before, but that in no way means we have it all together.

It helps me get through the big things and the little things when I can be thankful anyway.

Sometimes a mess, a really big mess, can be the sign of progress. It seems to me you can’t really accomplish something big without creating a bit of chaos in the beginning.