I felt so guilty at the close of the day, headed to a farm with friends to grill, and dream, around a fire pit. I knew I would feast on beauty in all its forms – relationships, food, and nature – and had spent the day similarly. Intentionally carving out space of time to attend…
Today I saw a sticker of two female figures, each donning the iconic triangle, but one in color, clearly a superhero’s cape. The quote read, “It was never a dress.” I laughed and immediately bought some. We are in the era of “girl power.” Companies such as Dove and Always are seeking to change the…
Sugary calorie rich junk food covers my kitchen counter this morning and pop-its litter the garage. Somewhere in the neighborhood 3, maybe 5 or 7 teenage boys are loose, celebrating the end of middle school while every other grade remains in class for two more days. That makes the freedom all the more vast: they…
Recently I read Ann Voskamp’s beautiful, heart wrenching post about the situation in Iraq. In it she outlines the impossible choices children face there – girls sold into sexual slavery, forced to have their virginity surgically remade only to be taken again and again. Children denied an education. Babies as young as three years old…
I am insecure. Way more than I’d like to admit. Way more. When we get home from parties, I replay social interactions in my head because I’m afraid I might have said something strange or wrong or unintentionally hurtful. Often I find myself hesitating to initiate conversations because I convince myself that the other person wouldn’t…
I was single for most of my twenties. I was hopeful about finding Mr. Right but it seemed like a long shot because I was a campus pastor. Most of the men in my life were college undergraduates or married colleagues in ministry, neither of which were appropriate pools for mate selection. After reading a…
My hair fell out on a Friday; I was enduring breast cancer treatments. To prove his solidarity, my husband attacked his thick, silver hair with an electric razor that was as out of control as our lives appeared to be. Friends and family members of cancer patients suffer, also. They often struggle with fear and…
Most people in our generation will always remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001. It is actually September 12 that sticks in my mind as a pivotal day in my life and faith. On 9/11 I did what thousands of others probably did. I sat glued to the television,…
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me…” The first time I ever felt my chest tighten like it could cut off…
“What can we do to help?” friends asked me as my husband lay dying and soon after he passed. At first I didn’t know how to answer. I’m still feeling my way through early stage-grief from the inside out. At first I didn’t know what I needed, but others sometimes recognized a need and…
I got rejected this week. It was an article, a story I was a really proud of, submitted to a prestigious magazine where a couple of my friends have been published recently. I’d polished the prose, even had someone look it over before I sent it in, only to receive a not-unfamiliar response. “Thank you…
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…
I have been writing, now, for decades. It started back in elementary school, when we were given blank books in second grade, books that were pure white, inside and out. The covers, the pages, the seams of the binding—all of it, whiter than winter clouds. There were no lines, no rules. Just space. For a…
I have done some things in my life that most people would find daring. That trip to Yemen when our car was turned around and sent back south because of Al Qaeda activity up north – that seems pretty bold. Passing by those jeeps with guns strapped on the backs of them would have scared…