by erinrobinsonhall@gmail.com | Sep 1, 2023 | Reflections |
The floor we walk on has carpet. Some tile and hardwood. It’s covered in dog hair and sprinkled with lego pieces. My steps wear a path into the carpet upstairs, between the laundry room and kids’ bedrooms. I have learned which spots in the floor will creak and how to step gently like a ninja with no sound. These floors are sacred ground for us. Being mindful of our steps has been part of the healing work we have done for the past several years. Sometimes, the ground we walk has crunching leaves It can feel cold beneath our bare feet, shoes intentionally left inside. In our #traumainformedparenting journey, my husband and I learned early on that there is a magic of touching a different kind of ground with your bare toes. The sensory experience can pull someone away from where memories or triggers have taken them, and bring them back to the present moment. We learned some practices for grounding that have saved us more than once. As many of us know, the basic idea of grounding is to communicate with your body where you are truly located, instead of just listening to the alert signals your body might be sending that make you feel fearful, unsafe, and worried. Grounding can happen by connecting with things you can identify right in front of you. To get you in the present. To remind you, you are safe here. You can breathe, you can use your tools, you can be okay. Grownups can do the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 practice – five colors you can see, four things you...
by erinrobinsonhall@gmail.com | Aug 25, 2023 | Reflections |
Cold | Ordinary Time [SPOILER ALERT – Go watch Season 1 and 2 of The Bear. Then come back and read this one] Have you heard about the benefits of a cold plunge? The physical and mental benefits have researchers diving into study about what good can come from plunging your body into an ice cold bath. The idea is that you submerge yourself into frigid water for 10-15 minutes, and the shock has positive effects. Some research shows that it can impact inflammation and offer positive impacts for people experiencing depression. Lots of good things in this increasingly common practice. The warning for a cold plunge? Not for long. Never alone. Which is how I knew the season finale of the FX show The Bear was going to explore what happens when you plunge right past the safe guidelines. Like every episode, this show leaps over the edge of awkward and uncomfortable and draws you into family system disasters. The spicy banter mixed with trauma responses won’t let go until you are seated right at the table with these characters and cannot look away. A Parable Oh, these beautiful people who bring themselves to the work of building a restaurant. This is some redemption-lament-resurrection-creation stuff, y’all. Carmy’s internal struggles. Yes, chef. Sydney’s truth-telling amidst her own anxiety and fear of failure. Marcus making room for artistry alongside grief and Tina’s vulnerability in showing up to learn a craft. Richie being an entire gospel parable laid out for us on the screen. Good gracious, this show is a primer for all of us who build community. And, it’s the...
by erinrobinsonhall@gmail.com | Aug 20, 2023 | Reflections, Uncategorized |
Ordinary Time. The time that counts. From the idea of ordinal, this is the time between and the time until. I have such appreciation for the time marked by ordinary days. What are the symbols for this liturgical season, in this very year? Ordinary time is historically known as the liturgical season to focus on practices that shape us as the people of God. Different than the seasons that focus on the great mystery of God, this time is more grounded and messy. Which elements for Ordinary Time might carry us along? The elements that seem near to me are what I want to share in these ordinary days. Let us consider: HEAT. Heat | Ordinary Time The afternoon heat enveloped us, a suffocating pillow that threatened a heat index of 115. As I sat in my van with the air conditioning doing its best, my school aged children jumped inside. Their little faces were red from waiting on me at the carpool line for just a few minutes. “No recess today, we had to do inside recess!” the littlest one announced. Though a huge disappointment to him, I knew this was the right call in the August heat of Macon, GA. Afternoon temps were simply too extreme to have children running outside. Extreme heat in our region, like most of the South, means we change up the expectations for outside activities. As we drove home, my son pouted. At the stoplight, we saw the construction site with workers toweling off their faces in the heat. Then, as we drove closer to our house, we looked for a home...
by erinrobinsonhall@gmail.com | Apr 3, 2023 | Prayers, Reflections, Uncategorized |
They held palm branches. Little hands, raised high among the gathered people held symbols of peace and protest. We wanted them to walk. We sang along as they enacted the gospel story. Palm Sunday tradition had them marching and laying their branches at the foot of a reasonably-sized cross. The children of our church waving palm branches. We read the scripture about people who marched with palms. “When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, ‘Who is this?’” A city in turmoil reaches my heart today. One week ago, I was meeting on Zoom with my team, who calls Nashville home. My friend Eileen got a text from her daughter and froze. “It’s a school shooting.” Silence fell. A pause that held the question we parents ask these days: Did this latest shooting reach my child? She breathed and we realized, not this one. A school nearby, down the road. We learned that another team member has family in The Covenant School. They escaped, not physically harmed. Fear, anxiety, and grief washed through us. Within hours, my social media feeds filled with ads for bullet-proof notebooks and classroom walls that transform into bunkers. Bullet-proof barriers for sale, the commodification of our nightmares. The market is ready to respond. Stock prices on guns shoot up, while I stifle an honest Lenten confession: I want the power to protect my family. I need something in my hand so no harm can touch my children. One week later, a walk out is planned. At 10:13 am, the time the school shooting began, thousands of students across Nashville walked out....
by erinrobinsonhall@gmail.com | Aug 27, 2021 | Prayers, Reflections |
Yesterday, we said goodbye. Our family has made a home with the church where my husband has been the Senior Pastor for many years. The time to say goodbye to that place has arrived. My husband and I wrapped up our heartache and pain from this season and set it down for an hour. We picked up stickers, bubbles, a card, and some markers. We prepared a litany of goodbye for our children. They needed space to understand this change. They know that Daddy is shifting to a new space to work. They have a hundred questions. We do too. But we have shielded them. I will not have them experience the church hurt that we know. We only want them to know that God loves them, that wholeness is worth seeking, that our family believes in justice and care for all people. They needed time to stand in their classrooms, their playground and their sanctuary. And remember. We took our little paper hearts, and shared memories – a sticker for each special memory or person. We lit a candle in each room. They have a hunch there will be candles in our next church, too. We blew bubbles to embody our prayers for our friends. We ran and jumped on every inch of this second home called church. My five year old laid down, arms outstretched, on the chancel. “I’m giving the church a hug goodbye.” My oldest son was a toddler when we came here. As we walked around yesterday, he kept writing his name on any whiteboard he could find: LJH was here. I get it,...
by erinrobinsonhall@gmail.com | Nov 12, 2020 | Reflections, Wonder |
Today, we loaded up our little circus and took a drive. The kids had a school holiday, and we planned a little fun out of the house. Didn’t matter that the weather forecast screamed “stay home” or that the clouds tried to warn us. We packed enough snacks for this crew and drove to see the animals at Dauset Trails. In our family, this is a week for celebrating adventures. We are celebrating our “Coming Home Day” tomorrow, the day we brought our kids home. Adventure in the rain felt just right for this morning, and we had fruit snacks, so why not? Halfway into our drive, the sky opened up and rain began to pour. I watched the older kids’ faces. Logan, our oldest son, whispered, “Does this mean we got in the car and came all this way for nothing?” Disappointment doesn’t always go over well with this crew. I said, “Nope. It does not mean that at all, buddy. It means . . . Disney Rules! Now, you watch the clouds.” He grinned and knew exactly what I meant. My husband forgot this particular Disney Rule, but trusted that I could avoid the whining and tears for a while with this plan. We adore Disney World, and the first time my husband and bio son Logan went to Disney, I laid out my “rules.” There are many, all brilliant. The one about rain and storms, I will share. It goes like this. When it storms at Disney, as it does every afternoon, you do not leave the park. You do not hide away in a store...
