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July 19th, 2010 | Uncategorized | Ruth Bresson | No Comments

One day last week I went for a mid-day run…1:30 or so…much, much too hot….

truth be told…running mid-day in 90 plus degrees is a bit dangerous…

but maybe sometimes we need to run a bit dangerous….

and I thought of the words spoken by a dear friend who this week taught a group of women how to speak back to fear the way Jesus does…

the treasure for me was her statement….”You will fail. Everyone does. But failing does not make you a failure.”

her words were the beats forming the rhythm of my run….

the thing is….if we long to love well…to run well….we will have to choose to run dangerously every now and then….

love will compel us far out of our comfort zones…and we will round a bend or find ourselves in a dark tunnel; ambushed by unexpected attacks or misunderstandings or – yes, even our own failures -

and we will want to quit.

but if we choose to continue running even where we once ran into carefully constructed walls…amazingly, mysteriously we can run through the breaking apart of those walls….we can run through that ominous tunnel…even while navigating the debris raining down on us…(scary, i know)….

if we just keep moving…

Break Outs……Break Opens……even Breakdowns….

………..BECOME    BREAKTHROUGHS…………

Is there a dangerous run marked out for you?  Have you believed that “failing” disqualified you to run?

You are wrong.

In fact, the very “breaking open”  that you might be presently running through unleashes the power to equip you to continue running…even to run dangerously…..straight toward your “Breakthrough…”

If it feels terrifying to run alone…then don’t….seek out a sound coach, a mentor, a tribe, a kindred spirit….and look up…not down…you will see the light beckoning you to move forward….

You can do this…..

July 15th, 2010 | Uncategorized | Ruth Bresson | No Comments

…. i love early mornings….

there is something so redemptive and forgiving about just being given one more new day….

despite the previous day’s victories or defeats…with absolutely no assistance from me…

the sun chooses to rise each morning, the earth breathes one more day into my story….

i am more than grateful…

the early morning is like a shiny new sheet of clean, white art paper…not one scribble or dot anywhere to be seen…

just waiting for beauty…even beauty from ashes….

And I am given a do-over….

How do you begin your early mornings?

I well remember the hustle and bustle of work and children and school bells and wondering where the morning went…where the day went…and eventually where my life went…

But, honestly….I was wrong…the early morning was always there…even if the quatity of time was brief…the gratitude, the ownership of the day, the choice to breathe deeply, the anticipation of life and hope…always there…

How do you greet your early morning? How do you recognize and honor your internal rhythm?

It may well be that you are in a season of busyness – jobs, babies, travel, responsibilities…it may well be…but, I am saying this to you from years of excuses and rationalizations…even if you have only the time during your drive to work or the moment just before the baby wakes or even if you find yourself facing a battle this very morning…

how you greet the day and choose to fill your inner bucket sets the rhythm and power for the rest of your race.  None of us has the ability to predict what lies just beyond the gate of our new day. None of us. But each of us has the automony  to look toward that open gate with renewed truth, hope, grace, and guts.

I love the words from the seasoned prophet who had seen more than his share of battles;

“I gave up on my life altogether.

I’ve forgotten what the good life is like.

I said to myself, “This is it. I’m finished.

GOD is a lost cause.”

I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,

the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.

I remember it all- oh, how well I remember -

the feeling of hitting bottom.

But, there’s one other thing I remember,

and remembering, I keep a grip on hope.

GOD’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,

his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.

They’re created new every morning.

How great is your faithfulness!”

Today is a good day to begin well…it requires no financial investment, no burdensome study, no long work out at the gym…

only a simple acknowledgement of the new day, the giver of hope, the renewer of joy, the sun that rises, and the promise of the open gate….

Come…..

July 13th, 2010 | Uncategorized | Ruth Bresson | No Comments

“Forget the former things…

Do not dwell on the past…

See, I am doing a new thing!                                                        

Now it springs up;

Do you not perceive it?’

Words from the good prophet Isaiah straight to my head and heart today…maybe to yours as well.

I’ll be honest with you….even though I have lived through some pretty tough battles and crises in my life, the monster that never seems to die is the one labeled “What’s Behind the Closed Door – Oh No, My Past! – ” and the label is always written in dark, scary blood red paint….permanent it would seem.

On a perfectly, seemingly normal day I begin my run and suddenly – Bam! – I run smack into a door – a closed one.  It appears bolted from the inside with tags and messages announcing that there is no need to wrestle with the locks….that I closed this door years ago as a result of my own naivete’ or carelessness or worse, bad decisions. And so, today….this new day….I can run but only so far.

But, I long to push through that door. I want to be on the other side.

Yet, try as I might I can’t seem to muster up enough guts or strength to break those insidious locks and destroy those infernal tags that label me “failed, messed up, too late, too fat, too old, too too too much trouble.”

So, I reverse my steps and run back into the same ole room again.

My legs move but my heart doesn’t.

I am so done with that kind of runnng.

So, today I read and reread this amazing, terrifying invitation from good ole Isaiah.

It seems there has always been “a new thing” and “the new thing” has never been dependent upon my guts or my strength.

What an incredible relief.

“The new thing” seems to be about my Abba – my Father – and his love.

Love…that word again. Seems to crop up everywhere these days.

And it is that love that ever so gently places my shakey hand on the door knob, turns it ever so slightly, and bingo…ever so tenderly….that scary ole door creaks open.

And I am transformed into Dorothy landing upside down in the Wonderful World of Oz…beauty, hope, adventure, redemption.

And all those scary tags with scary messages from my past – “You can’t open that door. You lost the key. You missed your one and only chance. You are no longer invited to the party.”

Turns out they are not true. Lies. All of them.

I learned that “Forget” in these verses doesnt’ mean to literally “forget – as to never recall in our memories” but the word, “forget” here means “to remember without the memory having power over our present.”

I like that alot.

Memories remembered and redeemed.

I want my memories. I need them. I learn best from them.

But, I want them as fuel to push open the next doors not as dour deadbolts trapping me in rooms I was intended to leave.

So, if you keep running into the same ole doors…stop….pause…ignore the tags….simply turn the knob….and watch the door creak open…new things await….i promise.

July 7th, 2010 | Uncategorized | Ruth Bresson | No Comments

….i’ve been thinking alot about breakthroughs lately…ones that seem to land on our front step with happy ribbons and bows and others that seem to emerge from the very pit of hell itself…each one revealing truth and offering grace….

…but i have also realized that real, lasting breakthroughs seldom – if ever – arrive without first being preceded by battle…

…something happens…

….someone does something…

…or we do something….and consequences result….

…maybe immediately…maybe slowly built up over time….but reality arrives home…

….and we are forced to take a stand…for ourselves, for those we love, for the truths we honor….

….taking a stand, facing the music, taking it on the chin, choosing sides, swinging a punch and offering an embrace….

….all of it…..

….all of the above involve fighting the good fight…

….running headlong into battle…

…and if all you ever try to do is live as a “peace keeper” and never a true “peace maker”….

….you will miss the battle altogether and eventually become a casualty when you never even knew there was war…

….fighting the good fight is loving fiercely without compromise or apology…

….fighting the good fight is expressing true righteous indignation….

…..getting good and mad when you have reason to be good and mad…

….fighting the good fight is counting the cost….and fighting anyway…

….because loving well….is worth every cost….every battle…

….defending those you love is worth every cost…every loss…every battle…

….standing naively on the sidelines hoping everybody will smile and get along when bullets are flying is just plain cowardly and silly…..

….and dangerous……very dangerous….

….i know it’s not pleasant….

….i know no one wants to run headlong into battle….

….i know battles break out when least expected and always from the least expected source….

….but….believe me….to live trying to avoid the good fight is to live allowing yourself to become the casualty when you were created to be the warrior….

….real peace is never free….

…real peace comes with the highest cost….

…real peace is always, always worth the battle….always….

….so let’s run well….even if – for a season – it is running into battle…

….you will not regret the decision to run that leg of your race…..

…..never…….

July 3rd, 2010 | Uncategorized | Ruth Bresson | No Comments

….my son was married this past Saturday at his wife’s breathtakingly beautiful blue ridge mountain farm amid their dearest family and friends….it was memorable, inspiring, and completely them….

…they flew out this tuesday morning for a once in a lifetime honeymoon adventure that includes visits to gorgeous resorts as well as serving with Habitat in the poorest regions of our world…their story will include lovely candlelight dinners shared together as well as fierce embraces with precious children seeking shelter….

….it is a breakthrough adventure…a breakthrough choice to marry….to love well for a really, really long time…

…..all of my kids inspire me…beyond grateful….

…..i want to be like them….

…..so i thought…are there breakthrough moments i might have missed…

…..might be still missing….

….how many subtle miracles might i have disregarded…..

….could it be that breakthroughs are happening all around us…each of us….in our own small spaces…in our dearest relationships….whether within brilliantly lit wedding tents or dimly lit shacks across the globe….

….maybe so….

….truth is i’ve discovered that they are so easy to miss……………

….or to dismiss…

….breakthroughs can be long awaited doors just barely creaking open…just a crack….or a long awaited job change finally becoming reality….or relationships won…or lost….or health recovered…or attacked….or homes filled to overflowing with voices…or silence after years of sounds….

….breakthroughs can be accompanied by wrenching tears or marvelous belly laughs or silence so still you can barely breathe…

…breakthroughs can be any shift….towards the east or the west….towards the sun rising or falling….towards hearts soaring or breaking….

….breakthroughs….

……they are a very good thing….a necessary thing……

….and we need to pay attention……i need to pay attention…..

…every single one is powerful and begs our respect and honor…

….oh, i know…….we are busy people….

………………………we are important people….

….and pausing…even for a moment…to acknowledge any sort of breakthrough…

….is so interruptive…..so time consuming……

…..so unsettling…unnerving….unfamiliar….

…..but maybe today is a good day to see the breakthrough…

…maybe today is the day to run with arms outstretched….flinging wide your mind and heart….

…..acknowledging the starting line….the first step….

….first steps are always breakthrough steps….always…

….i don’t want to miss my breakthrough….

….i don’t want you to miss your breakthrough…

…so shall we pursue it…hunt it down…

….for within our breakthrough is the very truth and courage we need for our next first step….

….so pause……frame the moment…….journal the story…….share it…….tell someone you love….

….be brave…..be the breakthrough……………..