Christian Blog Post
Perhaps it was having The Chronicles of Narnia read to me at such a young age, or maybe it was something else entirely, but closets and wardrobes have always been special places for me.
For those of you who haven’t read The Chronicles of Narnia, there are four siblings who step into a wardrobe in an old English house, and when they push through the coats hanging inside, they find an entrance to a magical land rather than the back of the wardrobe. Continue reading
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
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
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
“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
“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
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
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
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
January has begun and is already almost over.
I feel like I start a lot of blog posts commenting on the natural process of time passing, but it’s because I haven’t gotten my head around the concept quite yet. Maybe it will click sometime in later years, but for now it hasn’t, and I still marvel. Continue reading