Marilyn Gardner

This journey of missions and raising kids is a journey laced with grace. To communicate that grace to your kids is the biggest gift you will ever give them. Much of our past has been put into photo albums, blog posts, and memories of the heart. There is no doubt this life of pilgrimage comes with unique challenges, peculiar pains, unspoken losses – but for all those, there is always and ever Grace.

Which kind of leader are you – a banana tree or a mango tree? There are those leaders who are like banana trees: everywhere they go, they replicate. They mentor others so that others can exercise their leadership abilities and their gifts, they open up conversations for others to join and give their opinion, and they are in the business of growing leaders. And there are leaders like the mango tree – they serve a great purpose, they are strong and persuasive, but emerging leaders don’t seem to grow as leaders under them.