Merry Christmas from the Mo's

Christmas comes with all sorts of expectations, traditions, generations and institutions. It's nearly inescapable. 

And while all the bloggers I read religiously have posted about theirs (which I've had the best time reading and gleaning ideas), I feel like the four "tions" of Christmas and beyond for the Mo home are changing. Of course, there are one or two things that will never change, and I'm grateful for those. Love being the top. We know we are loved and we know we love. 

But as for the rest, we are in transition. I'm not sure what 2014 will bring for our little family. Despite our fresh and crisp and barely unwrapped day planners, I don't think anyone really ever does. But I do know that it will be new and maybe even a little scary. It always is. A little scary. 

But that's what we said last year too. And to be honest, the scary parts made it that much more beautiful. Why does it work out that way I wonder...

I don't know all that this year has brought for you, but I have heard and seen and read your stories. 

-Some of you are champions in my book. You have fought through a heavy and weighted year and you deserve more than a medal. I wish I could hug you. 

-Some of you are champions because you accomplished goals you never thought possible! You got literal medals! I wish I could hug you too. 

-Some of you had a well-deserved break from chaos and clutter this year. It wasn't easy breezy, but close to it. I want to buy you coffee and ask you how you did it!

-Some of you, well, your year is 2014 and I want to be your biggest fan. Start strong, keep stride, and push as hard as you can. You are good enough. 

Thank you for your gifts of friendship this year, no matter the degrees. And next year, let's do it all again shall we? 

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For a little light reading and reminiscing, here yours, mine, and our favorite posts of 2013: 

YOURS

Miley Cyrus' Message to Teen Girls: Sex = Growing Up

My Daughter Needs Me to Stop Striving for Perfection

The Idea of Baby Registry

Closing Instagram to Dignify Someone

Why I Didn't Photoshop My Pregnancy Line

Dear Friend, You're Ashamed

MINE

How Looking Back Moved Me Forward | Teen Girls Series

"Compassion" Isn't Just a Buzz Word

3 Thoughts on Repeat this Mother's Day

Dear Women, You Are Needed in Corporate Worship. Period.

Worshipping with Baby Mo, On Stage!

OURS

Changing the World by my 25th Birthday

The Story Behind Job Song

Women (Not Yet) in Worship

A Quick Note to Pastors on Mother's Day

Symphony's Birth Story | Part 1, Part 2, Part 3+Epilogue

And just because I think it's cute and funny, this post has been the #1 read post on this blog since its birth: A Letter To My Brother on His Wedding Day. Who knew. ;)

Merry Christmas + a Happy New Year! See you on the other side. 

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Family portraits taken by the fabulous Emily Tingley with OopsyDaisy Photography. Book her. Trust me.

Christian Vocabulary: Can't Live With It, Can't Live Without It

I am fully aware of the fact that Christians can use some pretty lame, exclusive, and non-sensical language. (<<< Click to tweet.)

Being raised in a Christian home, I have never known what life is like on the other side of faith. I have always wondered what people are really thinking when they hear the words: Holy Spirit, the Trinity, blessed, redeemed, Savior and my personal favorite phrase: the blood of Jesus.

It all seems a little exclusive and sometimes downright creepy.

On this side of the coin, all those phrases and words are understood within certain contexts, passages, and theology, but outside of all that, it's just a little weird I'm sure. I mean, in what other context or setting is it ok to discuss the brutal death and shedding blood of a man as a good thing for anyone?

It's violent and gory.

It can feel sadistic when talked about.

It's ancient and seemingly irrelevant to culture today.

Sometimes our vocabulary can hinder the vision. And yet sometimes it's dead without it. 

All those phrases and words come with healing and love and grace. Lots and lots of love and grace. Not because the words themselves are powerful. No, they're just a bunch of letters obligatorily stuck together by their creators. But its those creators that gave them their power. It's the Creator, of heaven and of earth, that gives them power. 

I am not a doctor. I am not a theologian. I have friends who can explain all the logistics of the Trinity and Creation and how we know God has to exist. 

But what I do have, I believe, is just as powerful. 

I have experience. I have first hand experience with the truth and the grace and the love of God almighty.

The Truth: He exists, He knows, sees, and created this world. He made it good and beautiful. He is redeeming it by His Son and through His people. And we're doing our best. 

The Grace: I deserve nothing outside of the life I've made a mess of. And even that's questionable. My natural inclination is rarely towards positive and more-than-I'd-like-to-admit towards negative. Yet the hand of Mercy (not getting all I deserve) and Grace (having more than I've earned) are seen working and kneading and fashioning my life. 

The Love: He does it all because He wants to. 

As a religion, Christianity can seem a little mystic, non-sensical and exclusive from the outside looking in, but when it comes down to it, it's really not. Those old archaic words, the ones we've been breathing in and out for the last 5000 years, they ring more true in the 21st century than ever before. (<<< Click to tweet that.)

Everyday we get a clearer picture of what Jesus was talking about when He said things like, "I have overcome the world," and "I am the bread of life," and "They will know you are mine, by your love for one another." 

When it comes down to it, Christianity, and all its jargon and vocabulary, is a group of broken people, leaning into the truth and grace and love of God, and walking away changed. 

When it comes down to it, Christianity is about transformation. For you, for me, and for this world.  (<<< You get it…)

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Have you ever felt Christianity was weird or overly mystical? Were you raised in the church? Did you leave or did you stay? Are you from the outside looking in? 

Let's chat in the comment section. I try to reply to every single comment!

Original photo via

If You Have a Friend for Life, Don't Let Anything Pull You Apart

Friendship is a weird thing. It's a commitment that ebbs and flows depending on the season of life we are in. Sometimes cultivating the friendship is convenient. Sometimes it is not.

Sometimes talking on the phone for hours on end about absolutely nothing and everything at the same time is doable. Sometimes it is not.

Sometimes weekly book clubs and Bible studies are inspiring and necessary. Sometimes they're not.

Sometimes spontaneous overnight trips to the city to read and write silently in the same room is refreshing. Sometimes it's just too much work to get there in the first place.

Sometimes friendships are circumstantial, and sometimes, they're not.  (Click to Tweet)

High school, college, marriage, motherhood are the seasons that my friendships have filtered through so far. Some stuck and some didn't. Some were pivotal in their designated season and others have become more so as time moves on.

But regardless, I'm learning my friends are a necessary, not optional, necessary part of my existence.

I need her to push me when I'm lazily meandering through life. I need her to pick me up off the bathroom floor when my burdens are weighing me down. I need her to belly laugh at the totally inappropriate memes I find on Pinterest. I need her to cry tears of sorrow when I lose, and tears of gladness when I've been given. Specifically life.

I need her and she needs me. Otherwise, we might not make it sane in this world.  (Click to Tweet)

She needs you and you need her. Otherwise, you might not make it either.

So, if you have a friend who is turning out to be one of those lifetime friends, don't let anything, nothing, pull that apart. (Click to Tweet) 

Fight for your friendships because it'll be worth it when you're grey haired and reminiscing, "Remember that one time..."

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Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:  If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. – Khalil Gibran

Better is open rebuke than hidden love.  Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. Proverbs 27:5-6

Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together. – Woodrow T. Wilson

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17

True friendship is when you walk into their house and your WiFi connects automatically.

We Need Love

This weekend I am headed up the California mountain range with a Venti Caramel Macchiato and some of my favorite women in the whole world. Last year we began a tradition of "retreating for some dreaming" before our annual girls conference. It was such a spring board for the most successful year we've had yet, that we decided to do it again, with more intentionality and purpose.

This year we asked ourselves, When a group of girls and women, set out to change their corner of the world, what do we need to be equipped with above all?

Love.

Why? You might ask.

Because love is patient and love is kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 

Because love bears all things, believes all things, hopes and endures all things.

We all have a gripping desire to feel loved, valued, and seen. Sure, there is time for discipline and consequences of actions taken, but at the end of the day, we all need to love one another and be loved by one another for this world to shift in the slightest.

Because above all, that's what our world needs and because it never ends.

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Will you pray for my staff this weekend? As we seek and study in preparation for this year's conference? (For those of you who've responded on FB already, thank you, thank you, thank you!)

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Do you know a High school or Middle school girl that is searching for a place to ask questions and experience God? Try out Becoming Girls Conference and see if it's a good fit.

Worshipping with Baby Mo, On Stage!

Worshipped with my childhood church this morning and Baby Girl Mo tagged along for rehearsal.

I shed many tears of sorrow, longing and heart ache on this stage, never thinking this moment would become a reality.

It's a little surreal she's here. May my passion for singing to Him never waver despite my circumstances. ♥

Thank you @emtingley for capturing this moment!

My Daughter Needs Me to Stop Striving for Perfection

Ty: Hey.

Me: Hey.

Ty: Remember when you use to blog everyday?

Me: Vaguely. 

You'd think, a three-hour napper would give me some space and time to sit and pound out a couple of the posts I have bouncing in and out of my head all day. But sometimes bills, laundry and sleep take precedence. 

I've always had a hard time not being the perfect housewife. I hate cleaning and when I attempt to cook a meal, I'm easily distracted; resulting in something burning, overflowing, or disgusting. I frequently have to rewash laundry because I forget to switch it over. My counters don't sparkle and it's a good day if the bed gets made. 

Every January first, at least one of my resolutions consist of changing this part of me. 

Towards the end of my pregnancy, I started to get anxious about the extra responsibility motherhood was going to put on these areas of my life. If I can't get these under control now, how am I going to do this and take care of another human being? Pinterest didn't help.

Perfection was my goal and meeting that goal wasn't looking good. 

"Striving for excellence motivates you, striving for perfection is demoralizing." 

-Dr. Harriet Bralker 

Striving for perfection is disheartening. Discombobulating. Discouraging. 

There have been moments in the last three months when I've felt just that: demoralized. Not because I have a difficult baby or even lack of sleep, but because of giant monster we call "comparison." Between "Supermom's" Facebook posts and the self-burdening expectations I put on myself and my sweet baby, comparison has gotten the better of me on more than one occasion.

I've quickly realized perfection is unattainable, because perfection is a mirage. (You know someone needs to hear that! Tweet, tweet?)

If there's one thing I've learned so far, in my short stint of this marathon, it's that motherhood isn't an end goal, it's a journey (Click to tweet). The failure, the struggle, the joy and exceeding expectations are part of it all; or so I hear. 

I may not be as perfect as I'd hoped to be, but I'm learning to accept that right now, at this point in my journey, to my baby girl, I'm as good of a mother as I can be. 

"There's something better than perfection," and it's authenticity. I need it, my daughter needs it, my husband needs it, my community needs it. 

*If you are on Facebook, you saw the picture that rocked me into this whole thing.

Sure, it may be messier, less squeaky and more wrinkly. But it's worth it. 

Maybe, you've been struggling with the mirage of perfection too; in motherhood, in academia, in the workforce, in marriage. Maybe you've felt like your end goal is unattainable. Unreachable. 

You don't feel like the best ____________________. Me neither. But right now, in this season, as learners and seekers, we are the best we can be. And sometimes, that's good enough. 

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What's a stand-out lesson you've learned about "mirage of perfection" so far? It can be from your own experience or from observing someone else's experience. 

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While motherhood is a very prevalent part of my current season, I try to limit myself to a once a week gush. It's usually Thursdays. Thanks for reading. 

Rest Is Out of My Comfort Zone

I've been rewriting and deleting posts for the last three days, feeling like what I'm attempting to communicate is jammed under my fingernails and won't come out. There's no fast track to becoming a better writer, speaker, singer, mentor, mother. They all take time and practice. Lots of time. Lots of practice.

I'm one of those girls that wants to accomplish all my dreams and whims right now. Like, right now right now. I think with all the "Yolo-ing" I see, feel, hear around me, I've fallen into a creativity stall out on the road to overwhelm.

I want to Yolo.

In fact, my comfort zone is yolo-ing. I love whimsical adventures and impromptu cupcake shop dreams. I love packing the car and heading to Sunny San Diego overnight. I love buying way too many art supplies with dreams of painting something every morning by my big open window. I love starting a worship coaching business in my home while learning how to be a mom, and planting a church with my husband in the big bad cement jungle of Los Angeles. 

That's my comfort zone. Always moving, always creating. 

What's outside of my comfort zone is reduction. Slowing down makes me nervous; like I didn't utilize that day to its fullest capacity. I wasted time. I wasted energy. 

Do you ever feel like that? (Thanks to your responses on Facebook, I know I'm not alone in this.)

I don't view rest as a way to pace myself; to prevent burn out or burn down. I see it as lazy and unuseful. I could have done one more load of laundry; I need to email those people back; I really should mop the floors. But all I really want to do is sleep, watch a show, or take a walk.   

I know these feelings aren't based on truth. I know resting is good. It's natural and quite biblical. I know the lack of it causes weariness and anxiety. I know some seasons are meant to be lived in big movement, while other seasons are meant to cease such movement. (Tweet that.) Or at least slow down a little. 

Jesus knew without rest, His disciples were ineffective (Mark 6:31, Matthew 26:45)
Jesus knew without rest, He was ineffective. (Matthew 8:24, 14:13, Mark 6:31-32, 46)

In the midst of a "busy life," even Jesus knew rest was necessary. (Click to tweet) The Son of God, fully man and fully God, saw it fit to stop. Breathe. Nourish. Rest.

No life is meant to live hurried and bustled and crowded. Life is meant to be lived, sweetly and freely, affecting change in the hearts, minds, and souls of the people around us. And we can't do that if we're burnt or burdened. 

If the God Man identified a need in His own life, and the life of His closest friends, to stop wheels from spinning, well then I can certainly take time to do the same. Even if it is far out of my comfort zone.

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What is outside of your comfort zone?
Are you a naturally restful person? Or are you uneasy with resting like me?

Let's chat in the comment section.

photo via buttercupink

The Job Song | Free Background Download

FREE Computer Background Download

FREE iPhone Lock Screen Download

The Job Song has been on repeat in my head this week. Tough lyrics but so much conviction. Trusting God is not something I'm good at. I rarely understand His ways until after the fact. I have way too many "Ooooooh that's what You were doing," moments for a girl who's been following Jesus since her tween years. But isn't that the beauty of faith? It's kind of ironic if you think about it. Faith is something learned, but you never really learn it fully. Beautifully ironic, is this grace thing. 

Anyways, BabyMo's nap time + creative bug resulted in some free goodies for you all today. I hope you like them and more importantly, I hope they are an encouraging reminder of God's grace for you today. 

How to Save | 

(Computer: Click photo to make bigger + right click + save to your computer + set as desktop)

(Phone: Hold finger on photo + save image + set as lock/home screen)