it's all about lea...

i don't use capital letters. well, MOST of the time i don't use them. however God, Jesus, and some other words are capitalized. don't ask. it started as a way to remember my humility and humanity. now it is quirky and the exact opposite. sigh.

i am a wife. a mom. a sister. a daughter. a friend to LOTS of great people. a photographer. a scrapbooker. a theatre lover and teacher. a Bible reader and teacher and learner. but mostly i am a great sinner saved by Amazing Grace. i thought about naming this blog "the blogger Jesus loved" kind of john the beloved disciple like. because if i know anything it is that i am always LOVED. 

i don't use correct grammar. i write like i talk. i use a lot of really big words but i spell like i am in kindergarten. do you remember "stream of consciousness" writing? and how confusing it was? well, it is back and i rock it... verily.

i teach theatre. but mostly i teach stories. how to tell a beautiful story and how to listen to other people’s stories. i think listening well is a lost art and i am trying my best to listen more than i speak. but that is difficult… cause i do like to talk.

i love many things. things like God. shakespeare. c.s. lewis. organized cabinets. a good book. hot tea. quotes. christmas cards. the oxford comma, a lovely ampersand, my friends, and my family. perhaps in that order.

you can email me at leamarshall@mac.com anytime...

intentional.lea

i have three intentions for my life…

1) tell a more beautiful story

“We live in a world where bad stories are told, stories that teach us life doesn't mean anything and that humanity has no great purpose. It's a good calling, then, to speak a better story. How brightly a better story shines. How easily the world looks to it in wonder. How grateful we are to hear these stories, and how happy it makes us to repeat them.” ― Donald Miller, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life

2) live out the power of &

say “yes, &” (which is the first rule of improv) & realize that life is better lived in the &’s (not the “or’s” & “but’s”) where you join two opposite things together and it is better & stronger. like kettle corn. salty&sweet. be mindful&playful.

the stockdale paradox… “You must retain faith that you will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties. AND at the same time… You must confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” {jim stockdale}

plus i LOVE an ampersand… &

3) leave it better

people, places, & things… leave them all better.

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration, I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or de-humanized. If we treat people as they are, we make them worse. If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them become what they are capable of becoming.” {goethe}