Flourishing!

(Take a deep breath. Close your eyes. Hit that reset button.)  I am finally taking a full week's vacation from this wonderful life we call ministry. If you are like me, you know the feeling of trying to get "everything" done before leaving town. I feel like I deserve a medal or at least a gold star from heaven! With some out-of-state down time with my son and the folks I love, I am realizing that I can use this vacation for what I like to call "The Reset."  The Reset is the space I allow to evaluate the past three to six months and ask myself "Aisha, is this how you want to end your year at this rate, this pace, and with the current priorities you have set for yourself?"  For me, the reset is a wake-up call to say, "Hold up, wait a minute...I am may NOT be living my life the way I have desired. I may NOT be living my life the way God intended. I may NOT be living my best life."  So, on this lovely quiet getaway, I am hitting that ...

Sometimes I need a good visual to remind me of what is right and good in the world. Our new home has great scenery. My friend stopped by this morning and said, "check out this tree!" Right next to my patio was this beauty. Big, bright, beautiful, strong and sturdy. I thought to myself, "hey, that tree is kind of like me". I am sure this tree has seen some storms, it's leaves have been tossed to and fro, and it knows what feels like to be green and lush in the warmth of the sun and to be barren in the winter. And yet, here it stands...big, bright, beautiful, strong, and sturdy. Caregiving for a spouse on hospice can have you feeling like a tree caught in a thunderstorm. Even in the storm, you have to remember that you are a tree, planted, rooted, and grounded in a love so amazing and so divine. When nights are rough, (and trust me in these caregiving streets, they get rough), you are big and bright and beautiful and sturdy and strong. In our new place, I wake up ...

"The Laying On of Hands" - my favorite part of the service! In 1998, I took a position as the middle school youth director in an über suburban town called Wayne and served a Presbyterian Church with a name that was the same. I had good memories of that time in my life. Youth mission trips. My wedding. Figuring out the call to attend seminary. Reluctantly saying yes to attending Princeton Sem (of all places). It is almost ten years ago from the day I left this place. And now I'm back. But in a different way. New pastors. Many of the same families. Same old love and support that I remember so well. If my life were a movie, my youth minstry days would have been a forshadowing of this moment. The Lord took me around the world and back to be able to serve the place that nurtured me as a young adult and as a new Presbyterian. So today is kind of awesome. I get to renew my vows as a teaching elder. I get to say yes, again, to serve in new and exciting ways. I get to sh...

So, it's that time of the year again. Christians all over the world have gotten through the sights and sounds of Ash Wednesday. And now its time to put into practice 40 DAYS dedicated to giving something up. Why? Because we want to get our minds around the idea of sacrifice. We want a tangible way to remember the sacrifice Christ made for the world. So, we take a moment, reflect, and decide to let go of something as reminder of the big sacrifice Christ made for us. (you know, God in the flesh, death on the cross, raised again on the third day ------stuff like that) I like the idea of Lent. I don't always like the implications of the practice. I like people who say, "instead of giving something up for Lent, I'm going to take something ON!" I never did too well with that. I always forget to do the extra stuff and before I know it, Lent gets away from me. This year, I think I have a custom made Lenten practice. For the next 40 days, I will turn off the TV after 9...

Meet EMAN's new Board President Rev. Aisha Brooks-Lytle — NewsWorks

Since I’ve been a full-time Pastor, I have not had enough opportunities to sing my original tunes with my band as much as I had dreamed. I watch folks in the public eye like Smokey Norful, Bishop Paul Morton, and even my girl Kim Burrell (a friend in my head) maintain the phenomenal balance of being pastors and musicians. While my Presbyterian Pastoral reality would not allow me to move and shake in the way these folk do, I have watched from a distance with the hopes that ONE DAY I can flow with ease as a singing sistah of the cloth who can swing with the best of them. As I try to find the balance between being a musician and a full-time pastor, I realize the real struggle is being a freak of nature who is equally administrative as I am creative. When life is calm and balanced (yes, I am trying to see how many times can I use a variation of the word ‘balance’ in this blog...), I seem to be able to fully attend to my creative outlets like singing, composing, writing, and yes, knitting...

Let me say this first, I am raising a male version of myself. I cannot believe how strong and powerful genes are in the business of family lineage. I know that nature and nurture run neck-in-neck in their ability to shape and mold a child. But this boy is undeniably mine. At first glance, its obvious that Ellington looks a lot like me. We have the same chocolate drop skin, big brown eyes (with long lashes), a laugh that can cause a troll-who-lives-under-the-bridge to smile, compassion for others, and charisma for days. On a much deeper level, Ellington carries my trait of appearing like a fearless extrovert to the masses but holding close to his chest introvert-like tendencies. So it is wild to watch and a roller-coaster ride to parent a smaller, male version of myself. This past week my overly-articulate, eager, polite, nerdy, and high energy kid made the transition from his small group Pre-K class to the daycare’s Summer Camp program. Summer Camp is great in theory....trips to par...