Not long ago, I surveyed my subscribers to my newsletter about creativity. I asked, “What roadblocks keep you from doing the creative things you enjoy?” It wasn’t even a contest. Forty percent of those surveyed said “time.” Which is understandable: there are limited seconds each day, and many creative activities—for instance, the intricate crochet figurines…
I stretched out my arms and legs, stiff from sitting in the same position for hours. I stood up, realizing I was hungry and didn’t remember when I had last eaten. I stumbled into the kitchen and my father, upon seeing me, remarked, “You’re alive! I haven’t seen you move in days.” “Ha, ha, Dad,”…
I wake to two of my favorite things: a cup of coffee on my nightstand and a sky warming for the sunrise. Gratitude should be first on my mind, but in the split second between sleep and awake, my mind rests on an unsettling word: depersonalized. Indicators of burnout have been popping up for months—waking…
The most awkward transition in my life was moving from the nurtured and relatively carefree life of a student to contributing as an independent and productive adult. Looking back, I fondly refer to that period as my “Mr. Magoo years.” If you don’t remember Mr. Magoo, he was a hopelessly nearsighted character who cluelessly marched…
Dear Reader, A little more than five years ago, I stepped into a few major transitions in my life. My youngest child graduated from the parent-involved K-8 school where our family had been heavily involved for 15 years with all three of our children. I left the staff of the missionary organization I had been…
Diapers and 2 a.m. feedings. Car seats and Legos. Preschool and playdates. These things filled my early days of parenting. I had longed for motherhood, so I embraced the busyness along with the joy. As my children grew, things became even more hectic. My husband and I decided to homeschool our two children, so as…
Are you experiencing the tension of transition? Waiting in the “already/not yet” space of leaving what was and not yet realizing what will be? Many refer to this place as the hallway between closed and not-yet-open doors. Although times of transition can be stressful, scary, and secluded, God wants to meet us here. Learn the…
“Get comfortable being uncomfortable,” says the artwork hanging on my living room wall. The words sit within a tangle of orange squiggles. Whether or not the artist, Hugh McLeod, meant for the squiggles to represent the jumbled feelings that come when life takes a different direction, they do for me. Relocations have been those transitions….
Thomas stayed. The other disciples saw Jesus. Experienced him. He was before them, in the flesh. But Thomas missed it. And as his friends recounted the story of seeing their Lord, Thomas couldn’t believe that Jesus had risen. He had been with Jesus, watching the miraculous. But this was too much. Whether his grief from…
Transition is not easy. I’d like to think that I’ve mastered it after living abroad for 5 years, spending a year traveling all over internationally, and then a year moving across the United States—in which I moved every 4-7 days, visited more than 100 cities in 33 states, and stayed with as many hosts (as…
Transition could be my middle name. I was a Third Culture Kid (TCK) for the first half of my life and became an immigrant in the second. Born in one place, educated in another, and transplanted once more right in the middle of life–on my way over the hill–to yet another geography. Life has felt…
Life is made up of changes. Whether your transition is exciting or difficult, chosen or forced upon you, change brings stress. I’m in the middle of an ongoing transition that I didn’t choose, would never choose, and had no choice but to accept. I am a caregiver. To cope with all the adjustments called for…
Dear Reader, I love stories. I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I devoured books late into the night–or rather the early hours of the morning–especially during summer months when I didn’t have to be up early for school the next day. My imagination would often run away with…
What fills your mind? Stories have played a major part in my ability to cope with the hard of life. They filled the space that was overgrown with fear and uncertainty like water rushing into a jar covered with old grime. My imagination became the tool I utilized to allow my curiosity to have free…