Book Awakenings

Some people have spiritual awakenings. I have book awakenings. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love me some Jesus (and more importantly, some Jesus loves me), but for purposes of this post, books have oftentimes been the soul-waking catalyst in my story. I learned to read in the first grade, a fact that felt neither […]

An Afternoon of Lectio Divina

Sometimes I miss lectio divina most of all. Years ago, when I first began serving in full-time ministry, a woman named Terry invited me over to her house for an afternoon of lectio divina. I didn’t really understand what she was talking about, but I did understand that I liked Terry, so her invitation was […]

Aftermaths of the Purity Movement

Sex, we were told, was bad. We weren’t to have sex and we weren’t to express ourselves sexually. We weren’t to wear clothes that would make others think about sex, and we certainly weren’t supposed to think about sex ourselves. For sex, they told us over and over again, was a sacred act, a covenant […]

When We Want It All

I want it all. I want to do it all, I want to have it all, I want to be it all. The problem, of course, exists in the fact that not only is this way of thinking absolutely impossible, but it’s also wholly unrealistic and unhealthy. So, I’m learning, as a late thirty-something year […]

Becoming Gap-Bearers

There comes a point at which we stand in the gap, with and for each other, when we can’t bridge the gap ourselves. We get sick, in body and in head. Our schedules are eaten up by deadlines and assignments and responsibilities – by all the Really Good Things we’ve said a hearty “yes” to. […]

The Comfort of Saying Hello

There’s comfort in saying hello. You see, lately, my life has felt marked by a slew of goodbyes. A couple of months ago, my husband was offered an incredible job promotion nine hundred miles away. As commuting hundreds of miles a day isn’t for the faint of heart – and because I can take care […]

Who is the Real Me?

I am ten years old. I love to read books. I love to hang out with my friends. I’m one of the smartest students in my class. I’m also painfully shy. In class, I raise my hand when the teacher calls my name, but it’s like my insides betray me. My mouth stammers out an […]

Reason, season, lifetime.

My list of best friends used to be long. I’d prattle off a list of 20, 30 names, believing each person held and knew and understood a different part of my core. I’d count the number of weddings I’d been not only a bridesmaid in, but also a maid of honor in, not-so-secretly believing my […]

Getting My Omnivore On

I’ve been rather omnivorous lately. Omnivores, as you may recall from seventh grade Life Science class, feed on both plants and animals. While someone might be omnivorous and be known to feed on just about anything in sight, omnivores aren’t likely to gorge on margherita pizza. Or drink a glass of wine after dinner. Or […]

When We All Just Want to Be Known

Fifty of us invaded their driveway on Tuesday night. Card tables and ice chests and camping chairs decorated the pavement, along with stacks of paper plates and plastic silverware and Red Solo cups. The grill sizzled, red and gray coals in wait for chicken apple sausages and hot dogs from the local butcher. We scrawled […]