The power of grace | Tyra Garlington

What do you do when you feel powerless?

Posted on September 11, 2017 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

It’s 2:21 am, and I can’t sleep. I crawl out of bed and drape my exhausted body on the couch in front of the TV. Late night TV is usually an effective sleeping pill. The microwave dings, announcing that the water is hot enough to make a cup of Sleepy Time tea. But the TV images and words bring me fully awake. In high definition, I see a colorful red, yellow, and white circle spinning across a map of the Carribean. I hear words like”catastrophic” and “150 miles per hour”. The scene morphs into a long line of people hugging their life necessities……
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All I want for Christmas

Posted on December 7, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

It seems everyone is talking about Christmas and gifts and sales. Children are making lists of all the things they want. They know that Santa is on his way with all kinds of toys and goodies. Parents are working hard to help Santa make all their dreams come true. It is also a time of parties and pageants, lights, and laughter. T’is the season to be jolly at all costs! And the costs seem to be getting higher and higher. At this writing, there are 24 more days to get it done. For Christians, there is also another reason for the season.……
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The power of words

Posted on November 10, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

The following wisdom was put forth in a video I watched when Dave Chappelle sat with Maya Angelou. It was poetry. “Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Someday we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally into you.”[1] “Maya Angelou spoke this truth, and it resonated with me. Resonated……
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Everyone has a soul story

Posted on October 18, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

While I was away, I spent time reading, listening to, and watching people whose journeys and messages resonated with me. It was uplifting and affirming. However, the power of their stories is minimized if I don’t share them with you. Here is one from Caroline Myss, the author, and internationally acclaimed wellness speaker. She has devoted her career to studying why people don’t heal. What she has come to realize, she says, is that ‘the instrument to heal is the soul.’ She asks each of us this question: “Have you ever wondered why it’s so hard to move on from past……
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Being you is the right thing to do.

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

Sitting in the large stadium enjoying the commencement festivities, I watched graduates exchange enthusiastic handshakes for rolled-up pieces of paper symbolizing the successful end of a season. Apparently graduates brought along their own cheering section with specific instructions on how and what to scream. In the midst of the noise, the echoes in my mind traveled back to my graduation day at Ohio State University. As I walked across the stage, I looked down at my beautiful engagement ring and squeezed the simulated diploma. I just knew that I was walking into that happily ever after I had been waiting……
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What are you leaving behind?

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.”[1] Was Cicero profiling you? “I will never forget the gut-level conviction he had that we are all expressions of God and that we all should step up and live our God selves. And now that he is gone, I remember the haunting lines of a song he sang beautifully though he did not write, What if God was one of us?”[2] This is Harriette Cole remembering Prince this week. Based on what I have researched and heard since his death leads me to believe that Prince’s biggest……
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How do you smuggle hope into hopelessness?

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

We planned to meet for some “quality time”. It had been a while since we shared a hug. As I approached the table I felt her sense of hopelessness before I saw the pain in her eyes. It was time for me to crawl into that dark space with her and be. I knew the story, I knew the journey. I knew her. I call her friend. So many things crossed my mind to say as I listened. I watched her mouth tremble as she tried to dam up the tears that leaked from her heart. We had been here……
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Goodness and mercy do follow me.

Posted on April 5, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

I recently went to dinner at a home where I knew relaxation and compassion lived. I was exhausted! My commitments had outpaced my energy the week before. I needed the unconditional love that would answer the door. I would not be judged or questioned for my silent but hungry hugs. I plopped down where I could see the activity and yet not be necessary to it. I imagined what words would write themselves if others could see us. Activities were based on age and role. The “Youngers” played until they ran hot and needed water. The “Tweens” looked away from their……
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Gone but not forgotten.

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

When spring was in the air and I was a little girl, I imagined the bright colors it would wear through the door. It would smell and feel good and I could play outside much later. Spring meant bike rides and skipping rope and no more heavy coats and mittens. March was the month that signaled spring was near. I had little girl visions of what March would look like dressed as a “lion” or “lamb”. Much later I discovered that people who came long before me believed there was a balance in the weather and in life. So if……
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