Category: Faith

Christian Blog Post

Certain in September: Five Minutes of Faith
By Madeleine Hagan

Certain in September: Five Minutes of Faith

The academic year has restarted and the temperature outside is dropping. The trees are standing in front of their wardrobes, taking their sweet time deciding what to wear to the party, but when they arrive, everyone’s jaws will drop. Whether or not your calendar still revolves around the academic year, change is knocking on the door. We were designed for rhythm and change. Rhythm teaches us the importance of steady, repetitive disciplines, while change keeps us from getting set too deeply in ruts of bad habit and complacency. Continue reading →

When Divinity Brushes Against the Texture of the Ordinary
By Madeleine Hagan

When Divinity Brushes Against the Texture of the Ordinary

I was stunned to silence a few days ago by the weirdest thought. I just started this book called Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren, and by “just started” I mean I got all of three pages into the first chapter and read this:

“But after hearing about Jesus’ birth and a brief story about his boyhood, we find him again as a grown man at the banks of the Jordan. He’s one in the crowd, squinting in the sun, sand gritty between his toes. The one who is worthy of worship, glory, and fanfare spent decades in obscurity and ordinariness.” Continue reading →

Tea Towels and Being Wonder-Full
By Madeleine Hagan

Tea Towels and Being Wonder-Full

And there I am. Hot tea spilling over the counter and beneath the scanning thingy and I’m on the phone with a lady who’s asking me to do something that could very easily be done online herself, and I have to pause. The curly phone cord stretches as I reach for the blessed roll of paper towels kept on the bottom shelf of the desk, and by the time I stand back up with a wad of them in my hand, the tea puddle is inching even closer to the computer. Continue reading →

Getting It Wrong (I Am Still Learning – Part Two)
By Madeleine Hagan

Getting It Wrong (I Am Still Learning – Part Two)

“Ancora imparo (I am still learning).” -Michelangelo, Age 87

If you have been reading along, my previous post introduces something I’ve been spinning around like a funky Rubik’s cube in my head since the beginning of this year. (See previous post here for part one: “Sponge Talk: I Am Still Learning – Part One“) Here’s the continuation. Continue reading →

Sponge Talk (I Am Still Learning – Part One)
By Madeleine Hagan

Sponge Talk (I Am Still Learning – Part One)

“Ancora imparo (I am still learning).” -Michelangelo, Age 87

2019 is well underway and I’ve spent weeks trying to come up with new blog topics. It happens way more often than I’d like to admit. I sit and think for days on end about what I haven’t written about yet, what would be interesting for people to read about, and what would be super relevant. Continue reading →

Measuring My Life In Coffee Spoons
By Madeleine Hagan

Measuring My Life In Coffee Spoons

Why do I think about and gravitate toward coffee shops so much? I write in them and about them constantly. I’m always on the lookout for additional favorites. What’s the magnetic draw? Does it touch a piece of heaven, or eternity, that just draws me in? Maybe it’s the coffee. It’s a bunch of people who hang out there because the coffee is there. They want to drink some and then, when their drink is done but they don’t want to go yet, they stay so they can at least smell it still. There’s a humming. A gathering (peaceful) around a well-loved centerpiece. Continue reading →

Delight Ministries: Published in Volume 5
By Madeleine Hagan

Delight Ministries: Published in Volume 5

Back in January I announced that a short story/testimony of mine about pursuing contentment in the messy bits of life was published in one of Delight Ministries’ devotional volumes (SO CRAZY COOL), and loads of you have asked about when it will be available in the Delight shop for you to read. I finally have an update! Continue reading →

New Wine, Spring and Sunshine: Are You Ready For the New Season You’re Asking God For?
By Madeleine Hagan

New Wine, Spring and Sunshine: Are You Ready For the New Season You’re Asking God For?

Spring and sunshine are rapidly approaching.

I’m trying to speak that out loud as often as I can in the hope that might actually get spring and sunshine to arrive faster. I’m ready for walking outside in hopefully less than 12 layers and 8 scarves. I’m ready to get my gardening gloves dirty in the front yard planting little white daisies. I’m ready to reclaim my favorite rocking chair on the porch for enjoying my morning coffee. I’m ready to pretend dandelions aren’t weeds so I can let them scatter everywhere without guilt when I run around with Bella in the backyard. Continue reading →

What Generous Giving and Miraculous Living Have in Common
By Madeleine Hagan

What Generous Giving and Miraculous Living Have in Common

So what does generous giving and miraculous living have in common? Moving out of the Thanksgiving season means Christmas time is here! At first, I thought the order of that was strange. The world seems to go from thinking about what they’re thankful for one day and by midnight that same day they’re ready to go buy everything they can get their hands on. Continue reading →