Those of us who are people of faith tend to worship our place alongside God. Sure, we love Jesus, but in the suburbs we’d like our slice of the American dream too. We want our Bible studies alongside our Target splurges. It’s not wrong to appreciate beauty, to buy things, or want our homes to…
One long weekend we took our children to Los Angeles, to the hills under the Hollywood sign, to Griffith Observatory. The air was clear, the observatory a stark white nestled in green hills. It felt iconic: the city that isn’t quite a city lay below us, but from high up we could make Los Angeles…
I do not buy those words, sacred and secular, They’ve rent the world in two. They take the magic from how a speck of dust catches the light Or how the cadence of footfall is poetry. They make too much of church casseroles that do not feed the multitudes. Blind adult eyes Miss the…
I have a little secret: I never wanted to be a mother. At least not in the conventional sense. And certainly not a mother to four. I wasn’t one of those baby-loving, babysitting girls who fawned over the little ones in the church nursery. I had more important things to do like schoolwork and have a…
I said something on Twitter the other day that made me stop and think. And made others stop and think. It was this: “Write bravely. Use up all those good ideas now, don’t save them. There will be more. Art comes from abundance.” The idea came in response to Glennon Doyle Melton’s post on “Forever Tries“; she…
Shalom. It was a word that in our college days we thought was odd and a bit funny and so when it came up so often that semester of college during chapel, we snapped. It was an immature inside joke that said, hey that word is funny and we don’t know what to do with…
I remember reading Kathleen Norris’ slim volume called The Quotidian Mysteries, where she talks about washing dishes as an entrance into the holy. And reading Ann Voskamp and her contemplation of the views outside of her kitchen window as moments of experiencing the goodness of God that she would number as gifts. It all felt…
I ease my body into this new body of water, the snap-and-go tub in our new home, 1000 miles from our last, the one under the cover of mountains. And I remember how I’ve eased my aching body into bathtubs: the one they finally let me get into when I was being induced with my…
Maybe you grew up watching Disney movies like I did. We would sit breathless watching Ariel sign away her voice to the sea witch in “The Little Mermaid.” Eyes glued to the TV, we watched to see if the prince would “kiss the girl” even though she was mute. Now, on the other edge…