Blessed are the Mavericks
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Questions. I'm bettin' you have some.I'm so confused. What the heck is a Sacred Misfit? I’m so, so glad you asked. A Sacred Misfit is someone lives in the knowledge that their individuality is a gift from God and it is a treasure to be cherished, nurtured, and protected from the ‘trying to fit in’ and ‘I’m not good enough’ Monsters. A Sacred Misfit operates from a Divine place of knowing and embracing their own unique soul, has a clear vision, honors their own deepest values and lives out their own authentic mission on this planet. At this point you may still be confused. There is nothing apparently Misfitty about the above paragraph. It seems all rainbows and unicorns. All square pegs and square holes. Who wouldn’t want that? |
Well...I wish it were that easy.
Misfits (and Americans, for that matter) value absolute personal freedom, mobility and privacy.
Forefathers. American Revolution. Have you SEEN the Story of Us?
Like Patrick Henry our soul yearns, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Like Locke we rumble, "Don't tell me what I can't do."
Yes I am a fan of LOST.
A Misfit has the instinct that drove America to the Pacific and the Wright brothers into the sky. We choose our own path and walk it.
America is a country full of Misfit spirit. One of our favorite expressions is,
“Hey! It’s a free country!” I love Americans. We are crazy.
I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus.
Hold ON!!! Don't leave yet!!!!
I love that guy....if you shake the centuries of religious dust off of Him, you realize that in His time, He was perceived as a HUGE Misfit.
People could not understand that dude.
They wanted to put Him in the mold of political liberator but He knew He had a different purpose.
He came to seek and save the lost.
Jesus knew that His 'Misfit' was the perfect fit.
So I ask myself, what if we all knew that?
Like Jesus, a Misfit does not do what conventional wisdom dictates. Instead, Misfit listens to gut direction and breaks free, leaving the safety of the herd. A Misfit is a nonconformist, an oddball, a different breed. A Misfit may feel like the odd manout, a fish out of water or just plain freakish and weird, all of which in this ‘conform or die’ world can isolate, and shame, and silence, and frustrate.
At this point you understand the Misfit. But Sacred? Really????
I chose the word Sacred because the word has several meanings:
Protected - defended, guarded, secure
Blessed - adored, revered, rewarded
Hallowed - holy, annointed, blessed
Ineffable - too great for words
EEE!!! Do you know this describes you???
Now Imagonna get Biblical. Yes, I know over half the book is written from within a patriachal society that unapologetically relegated women to second-class. The past, they say, is a very different place. They did things differently there, so hang with me.
You are so brave!!!
I still think even with all the centuries of positively medieval religious manipulation, it is still a really, really good, important book filled with surprising truth. (But don't worry. It will probably not be what you expected, or maybe it will be, which is cool too)
Do you remember ~ waayyyyy back at the beginning of the Bible? " In the beginning" and all that jazz? At the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve freedom of choice. The Bible made it clear that free will was a reflection of the Divine, it was reserved only for human beings,
and He has left us free to exercise it ever since.
Sacred gifts from God, like your soul and freedom of choice, should be protected, guarded, defended, blessed and revered
because they are too great for words.
Which means you are too great for words.
I believe that deep within each of us lies an orphaned Misfit, a unique stamping of our soul that no one else has,
a glorious expression that is unique for all time to YOU.
How scroodlely glorious is THAT?!?!
But the truth is a Misfit, even a Sacred one, often doesn’t fit in, and their courage to express scares others away. Misfits can end up feeling lonely, isolated and wondering what is wrong with their oddball self. We have such a drive for togetherness that many Misfits just give up their nonconforming ways, bury their True Self and trade it in for a sense of belonging and normalcy. Why?
Well, researchers have learned that Americans do not list snakes, spiders or the dark as their fears.
They say one thing scares us most: the thought of being alone.
In 2004, Rolling Stone listed the top 500 hundred greatest songs of all time, and number one was Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”:
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown?
The truth is on average, we value our togetherness over our uniqueness. We walk in the tension of choosing to belong, or choosing to express. To have one, usually the other must go.
But what if it was possible to have both???
What if instead of being isolated and crushed, your Sacred Misfit was supported? Encouraged? Protected? Equipped? Heard? Celebrated?
What if we came together and respected each other and honored one another's unique souls?
That, my amazing Misfit, is the inspiration for this place.
The Sacred Misfit exists to help you discover and support who you have been made to be,
who you truly are inside and how to express from this Divine place.
I want to explore the labels we stick on top of our souls, the shame that keeps us hidden. By doing that, we
learn to operate from a place of Divine knowledge of who God has told us we are.
Because who you are is enough. More than that, it is glorious.
I borrowed this beautiful quote from a fellow visionary blogger, Pramakarini because I could not say it any better:
"Transparency = letting the world see through you.
This is the territory of the brave: you belong here.
And once you are here, you experience the freedom you’ve been quietly craving.
With this freedom comes unlimited energy to accomplish even more than you imagine.
Here is what I know from my own experience:
there is something extraordinary + unique, something very particular to you that you are here to share.
Only you can bring this into the world in your signature style.
Misfits (and Americans, for that matter) value absolute personal freedom, mobility and privacy.
Forefathers. American Revolution. Have you SEEN the Story of Us?
Like Patrick Henry our soul yearns, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
Like Locke we rumble, "Don't tell me what I can't do."
Yes I am a fan of LOST.
A Misfit has the instinct that drove America to the Pacific and the Wright brothers into the sky. We choose our own path and walk it.
America is a country full of Misfit spirit. One of our favorite expressions is,
“Hey! It’s a free country!” I love Americans. We are crazy.
I am a follower of the teachings of Jesus.
Hold ON!!! Don't leave yet!!!!
I love that guy....if you shake the centuries of religious dust off of Him, you realize that in His time, He was perceived as a HUGE Misfit.
People could not understand that dude.
They wanted to put Him in the mold of political liberator but He knew He had a different purpose.
He came to seek and save the lost.
Jesus knew that His 'Misfit' was the perfect fit.
So I ask myself, what if we all knew that?
Like Jesus, a Misfit does not do what conventional wisdom dictates. Instead, Misfit listens to gut direction and breaks free, leaving the safety of the herd. A Misfit is a nonconformist, an oddball, a different breed. A Misfit may feel like the odd manout, a fish out of water or just plain freakish and weird, all of which in this ‘conform or die’ world can isolate, and shame, and silence, and frustrate.
At this point you understand the Misfit. But Sacred? Really????
I chose the word Sacred because the word has several meanings:
Protected - defended, guarded, secure
Blessed - adored, revered, rewarded
Hallowed - holy, annointed, blessed
Ineffable - too great for words
EEE!!! Do you know this describes you???
Now Imagonna get Biblical. Yes, I know over half the book is written from within a patriachal society that unapologetically relegated women to second-class. The past, they say, is a very different place. They did things differently there, so hang with me.
You are so brave!!!
I still think even with all the centuries of positively medieval religious manipulation, it is still a really, really good, important book filled with surprising truth. (But don't worry. It will probably not be what you expected, or maybe it will be, which is cool too)
Do you remember ~ waayyyyy back at the beginning of the Bible? " In the beginning" and all that jazz? At the beginning, God gave Adam and Eve freedom of choice. The Bible made it clear that free will was a reflection of the Divine, it was reserved only for human beings,
and He has left us free to exercise it ever since.
Sacred gifts from God, like your soul and freedom of choice, should be protected, guarded, defended, blessed and revered
because they are too great for words.
Which means you are too great for words.
I believe that deep within each of us lies an orphaned Misfit, a unique stamping of our soul that no one else has,
a glorious expression that is unique for all time to YOU.
How scroodlely glorious is THAT?!?!
But the truth is a Misfit, even a Sacred one, often doesn’t fit in, and their courage to express scares others away. Misfits can end up feeling lonely, isolated and wondering what is wrong with their oddball self. We have such a drive for togetherness that many Misfits just give up their nonconforming ways, bury their True Self and trade it in for a sense of belonging and normalcy. Why?
Well, researchers have learned that Americans do not list snakes, spiders or the dark as their fears.
They say one thing scares us most: the thought of being alone.
In 2004, Rolling Stone listed the top 500 hundred greatest songs of all time, and number one was Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone”:
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown?
The truth is on average, we value our togetherness over our uniqueness. We walk in the tension of choosing to belong, or choosing to express. To have one, usually the other must go.
But what if it was possible to have both???
What if instead of being isolated and crushed, your Sacred Misfit was supported? Encouraged? Protected? Equipped? Heard? Celebrated?
What if we came together and respected each other and honored one another's unique souls?
That, my amazing Misfit, is the inspiration for this place.
The Sacred Misfit exists to help you discover and support who you have been made to be,
who you truly are inside and how to express from this Divine place.
I want to explore the labels we stick on top of our souls, the shame that keeps us hidden. By doing that, we
learn to operate from a place of Divine knowledge of who God has told us we are.
Because who you are is enough. More than that, it is glorious.
I borrowed this beautiful quote from a fellow visionary blogger, Pramakarini because I could not say it any better:
"Transparency = letting the world see through you.
This is the territory of the brave: you belong here.
And once you are here, you experience the freedom you’ve been quietly craving.
With this freedom comes unlimited energy to accomplish even more than you imagine.
Here is what I know from my own experience:
there is something extraordinary + unique, something very particular to you that you are here to share.
Only you can bring this into the world in your signature style.
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I love this version! Little Big Town went and blew my mind by turning a dance tune into bluegrass -
yeee-ahhh! |
Firework by Katy Perry inspires me every time i hear it. I found this version where Mike Tompkins exercises his own Sacred Misfit and makes an all male A Cappella version. AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
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Why is the logo a cartoon of you on stained glass? Are you deifying yourself? What’s up with the halo?
Such a good question!! I am absolutely NOT deifying myself. I know some people have been stung by legalistic religions that might be associated with the image of saints and stained glass, and this is in no way designed to minimize your pain. I believe that in the spirit of Christ, I am made whole, and holy, and pure, and filled with beauty and power. EEEEE!!!!!!!
I chose the image of the stained glass and the halo because it signifies the sacred, the protected, the holy and blessed. I believe that in God, each of us is all of that. I know that I am a daughter of the King, the Most High God, the treasure Jesus gave His life for, and that God has given me a crown of beauty instead of ashes. (Isaiah 61:3)
Check out Psalm 45:10, 11 - this is what God thinks about YOU.
I also love Psalm 8:5: "Yet you (God) have made them (human beings) a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor."
God places an unmistakable high value on YOU.
Go back to the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1.
Don't get bogged down in whether or not God made the earth in seven days or whether you believe in evolution or not.
If you get lost in the debate - you miss a glorious truth:
God made us to be His 'image bearers'.
Knowledge that I bear the image of God within myself is my North Star,
the reference point from which I begin to understand myself and everybody else.
God alone tells me who I am. God alone has the right to define my worth. I am not at the mercy of gender, culture, circumstance, or fear.
It is God's voice alone that gives me a heritage of indestructible identity and purpose.
Yes, I am certainly imperfect and mess up all the time, but God has told me who I am - and at the end of the day, this is what I come back to. Yay God!!
What do you talk about around here?
All sorts of stuff. Some answers could be creativity, shame, vulnerability, empowerment, innovation, passion-based entrepreneurship, pet care (random, I KNOW!), confidence, the inconsistencies in the last season of LOST, etc. How did half of the passengers on the plane end up in the 70s? THAT MAKES NO SENSE! If you understand it, can you please message me?
I wrote a blog on what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. You can read it here.
Why do you say 'Aloha?' You don't look Hawaiian.
Such a good question.
You probably already know that Aloha is Hawaiian for hello and goodbye. It also means love and affection. It comes from “Alo”, which means presence, front and face, and “ha”, meaning breath. The literal meaning of aloha is “the presence of breath” or “the breath of life”.
Aloha can be described as a way of living and treating each other with love and respect. It starts by teaching ourselves to love and extend compassion to ourselves first, and flowing from a place of worthiness and self-acceptance, then spread that love to others. According to the old kahunas, which were Hawaiian priests, to live in the Spirit of Aloha was a way of sending and receiving positive energy and living in harmony with yourself and others.
Aloha captures everything I want to say to you.
So you can see, every time I greet all the Misfits with the Spirit of Aloha, I am doing so much more than saying ‘hi’ or ‘goodbye’. I am reminding you that you are Sacred. I am sending you all my love and affection, and
blessing you with compassion and acceptance and worthiness.
ACK!!!!! GROUP HUG!!!!!
I love you sooooooooo much.
What is the tribe of Misfit women you keep referring to?
Sometimes in the blog I refer to the tribe. When I do, I am talking about a small circle of incredibly wise, powerful women with whom I am privileged to walk this planet. They are my council of strong warriors, my prayer intercessors, my prophets and seers. They live all over, and when needed, we sit together in digital circles, working through hard concepts and tangly questions. They pray for me, encourage me, rebuke me, cheer for me, give me good advice, and I do the same for them. These women are for me: they are safe and worthy to hear my story.
I would not be able to do this without them.
Aren't Misfits all anti-establishment and stuff?
Well, I can't speak for all Misfits, but here at Sacred Misfit we are all about community, because if you are going reveal your vulnerable True Self to the world, you gotta know that we are all in this together. The Sacred Misfit believes deeply in community, spiritual and otherwise.
We aren't rebelling against something physical or people,
it is more a rebellion to the dark places and the things that would keep us in shame so that we can cooperate better.
It is saying no! to conformity, competition, comparison, shame and perfectionism that would keep us from living in freedom.
"Live together, die alone."
LOST nerds unite!
Wait a second. How can you get away with being so real? Aren't you a pastor's wife?
Yep, I certainly am. And I'm not ashamed to tell you that I railed against it for years because of the very reason that pastor's wives live their lives in fish bowls under intense scrutiny. I've sat in secret pastor wife huddles, whispering about the fact that we can't be ourselves.
What would people think?
Well...I'm kinda done with that.
I'm beautiful, and a mess, and I've screwed up on many, many occasions. I've been advised by battled scarred pastor's wives that in order to protect myself, my husband and my children, I am better off just being really real with a select few. I've spent years locked up safe behind high walls, not sharing very much of myself because of this very reason, and I've missed out on many connections because of it. Boo!
So here I am.
I am astounded to be loved and protected by people that lead from a place of courage and love,
and who never apologize for breaking new ground.
I am grateful for my husband, who like Boaz (a really awesome dude from the Bible) gets it.
I count myself blessed to have people who nudge me with encouragement to keep writing, keep bringing shame out into the open, but do it from a place of worthiness, not woundedness. Sigh. Life is wonderful.
So yeah, I'm married to a pastor. For those of you who have baggage associated with the church, I get it, and I am in awe that you are so brave to keep reading my stuff. I hope you will still hang out here with me. Please?
For those of you who are shocked by the things I say, just realize, that is not my purpose.
I'm not into 'shock jock' language and controversy for the sake of controversy.
I'm about sharing the journey.
I hear also that you are a worship leader, and a writer, and a mom, and a veterinarian. Is that true?
Yep. I'm enormously useful. Either that or tragically schizophrenic. You can read more about it here.
Joking aside, the Sacred Misfit is all about inspiration and tools to help you understand the holy union of your passions, your giftings and your education, and how to fuse them in a way that feed your soul, create freedom, live better and, if you so choose, develop a secondary revenue stream for your family by doing more of what you love, because being diversified is cool.
Such a good question!! I am absolutely NOT deifying myself. I know some people have been stung by legalistic religions that might be associated with the image of saints and stained glass, and this is in no way designed to minimize your pain. I believe that in the spirit of Christ, I am made whole, and holy, and pure, and filled with beauty and power. EEEEE!!!!!!!
I chose the image of the stained glass and the halo because it signifies the sacred, the protected, the holy and blessed. I believe that in God, each of us is all of that. I know that I am a daughter of the King, the Most High God, the treasure Jesus gave His life for, and that God has given me a crown of beauty instead of ashes. (Isaiah 61:3)
Check out Psalm 45:10, 11 - this is what God thinks about YOU.
I also love Psalm 8:5: "Yet you (God) have made them (human beings) a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor."
God places an unmistakable high value on YOU.
Go back to the very beginning of the Bible. Genesis 1.
Don't get bogged down in whether or not God made the earth in seven days or whether you believe in evolution or not.
If you get lost in the debate - you miss a glorious truth:
God made us to be His 'image bearers'.
Knowledge that I bear the image of God within myself is my North Star,
the reference point from which I begin to understand myself and everybody else.
God alone tells me who I am. God alone has the right to define my worth. I am not at the mercy of gender, culture, circumstance, or fear.
It is God's voice alone that gives me a heritage of indestructible identity and purpose.
Yes, I am certainly imperfect and mess up all the time, but God has told me who I am - and at the end of the day, this is what I come back to. Yay God!!
What do you talk about around here?
All sorts of stuff. Some answers could be creativity, shame, vulnerability, empowerment, innovation, passion-based entrepreneurship, pet care (random, I KNOW!), confidence, the inconsistencies in the last season of LOST, etc. How did half of the passengers on the plane end up in the 70s? THAT MAKES NO SENSE! If you understand it, can you please message me?
I wrote a blog on what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. You can read it here.
Why do you say 'Aloha?' You don't look Hawaiian.
Such a good question.
You probably already know that Aloha is Hawaiian for hello and goodbye. It also means love and affection. It comes from “Alo”, which means presence, front and face, and “ha”, meaning breath. The literal meaning of aloha is “the presence of breath” or “the breath of life”.
Aloha can be described as a way of living and treating each other with love and respect. It starts by teaching ourselves to love and extend compassion to ourselves first, and flowing from a place of worthiness and self-acceptance, then spread that love to others. According to the old kahunas, which were Hawaiian priests, to live in the Spirit of Aloha was a way of sending and receiving positive energy and living in harmony with yourself and others.
Aloha captures everything I want to say to you.
So you can see, every time I greet all the Misfits with the Spirit of Aloha, I am doing so much more than saying ‘hi’ or ‘goodbye’. I am reminding you that you are Sacred. I am sending you all my love and affection, and
blessing you with compassion and acceptance and worthiness.
ACK!!!!! GROUP HUG!!!!!
I love you sooooooooo much.
What is the tribe of Misfit women you keep referring to?
Sometimes in the blog I refer to the tribe. When I do, I am talking about a small circle of incredibly wise, powerful women with whom I am privileged to walk this planet. They are my council of strong warriors, my prayer intercessors, my prophets and seers. They live all over, and when needed, we sit together in digital circles, working through hard concepts and tangly questions. They pray for me, encourage me, rebuke me, cheer for me, give me good advice, and I do the same for them. These women are for me: they are safe and worthy to hear my story.
I would not be able to do this without them.
Aren't Misfits all anti-establishment and stuff?
Well, I can't speak for all Misfits, but here at Sacred Misfit we are all about community, because if you are going reveal your vulnerable True Self to the world, you gotta know that we are all in this together. The Sacred Misfit believes deeply in community, spiritual and otherwise.
We aren't rebelling against something physical or people,
it is more a rebellion to the dark places and the things that would keep us in shame so that we can cooperate better.
It is saying no! to conformity, competition, comparison, shame and perfectionism that would keep us from living in freedom.
"Live together, die alone."
LOST nerds unite!
Wait a second. How can you get away with being so real? Aren't you a pastor's wife?
Yep, I certainly am. And I'm not ashamed to tell you that I railed against it for years because of the very reason that pastor's wives live their lives in fish bowls under intense scrutiny. I've sat in secret pastor wife huddles, whispering about the fact that we can't be ourselves.
What would people think?
Well...I'm kinda done with that.
I'm beautiful, and a mess, and I've screwed up on many, many occasions. I've been advised by battled scarred pastor's wives that in order to protect myself, my husband and my children, I am better off just being really real with a select few. I've spent years locked up safe behind high walls, not sharing very much of myself because of this very reason, and I've missed out on many connections because of it. Boo!
So here I am.
I am astounded to be loved and protected by people that lead from a place of courage and love,
and who never apologize for breaking new ground.
I am grateful for my husband, who like Boaz (a really awesome dude from the Bible) gets it.
I count myself blessed to have people who nudge me with encouragement to keep writing, keep bringing shame out into the open, but do it from a place of worthiness, not woundedness. Sigh. Life is wonderful.
So yeah, I'm married to a pastor. For those of you who have baggage associated with the church, I get it, and I am in awe that you are so brave to keep reading my stuff. I hope you will still hang out here with me. Please?
For those of you who are shocked by the things I say, just realize, that is not my purpose.
I'm not into 'shock jock' language and controversy for the sake of controversy.
I'm about sharing the journey.
I hear also that you are a worship leader, and a writer, and a mom, and a veterinarian. Is that true?
Yep. I'm enormously useful. Either that or tragically schizophrenic. You can read more about it here.
Joking aside, the Sacred Misfit is all about inspiration and tools to help you understand the holy union of your passions, your giftings and your education, and how to fuse them in a way that feed your soul, create freedom, live better and, if you so choose, develop a secondary revenue stream for your family by doing more of what you love, because being diversified is cool.
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