Merianna Harrelson

I am the Pastor of Garden of Grace United Church of Christ in Columbia, SC and the Director of Consulting at Harrelson.Co. I am always looking for a good cup of coffee and a great book.

New Year’s Training Tips

Not that I am an expert by any means, but I know what it is like to go from non-runner to runner. I know the excitement and commitment that comes with the resolution to run, but I also know the disappointment that comes just a few weeks later. So, I just wanted to throw a …

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Collards and Family

There wasn’t any doubt as to what we would be eating on New Year’s Day. It had to be collard greens and black-eyed peas. I certainly wasn’t the only one at the grocery store who was buying these essentials. In fact, around the meat section of the grocery store, a little group gathered to discuss …

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Cooking Challenges

It isn’t easy when you realize that you are an adult and if you want to carry on some of your favorite traditions, it’s up to you, especially if you are a forgetful cook like I am! But there’s nothing that will make me preserve through even the hardest cooking challenges like the pressure of …

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A Sour Start

Well, this morning on the first day of the New Year, I started my day with a cup of coffee with soured milk. My first taste of 2013 and it was sour. It would be easy to cross examine this experience and say that there are unfortunate events ahead for the new year, but I …

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Happy New Year’s

Whether you are spending the last day of 2012 with friends or spending it trying to forget the pain and hurt that the year brought, there’s something remarkably important about stopping and looking back. There’s something about putting markers down to remember where we have been and to shape the next part of our journey …

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Let there be light

  Interestingly, there is a marketing background to the Christmas light tradition that drives us all to bundle in our cars and drive through neighborhoods and businesses. Thomas Edison is behind these twinkle lights and his need to share with the world the wonder of his electric lights drove him and his friend Edward Johnson …

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Struggle Through

Maybe it’s the things we struggle through the hardest, that shape and form us. Now it is a strange thing, but things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating and even gruesome, may make …

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Homemade Christmas

  Maybe, it was all the Pinterest. Maybe, it was the stress of finals, but in the somewhere along the way, I decided to make many Christmas gifts this year. It took a little practice to relearn how to cross-stitch, but I caught on again! I found myself thinking about the person I was making …

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Halfway There

There’s is something about today that seems significant, worth stopping for a minute and writing, reflecting. Maybe it’s the tweets and status updates that mark this day of 12/12/12, but for me there’s something more personally meaningful about today. I’m halfway through with my MDiv program and while Bon Jovi’s song seems particularly relevant to …

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Running Memories

Just because I can’t run, doesn’t mean I can’t explore running gear : ) I had one of these in Germany!