I knew now… why I could feel homesick at home. — G.K. Chesterton O Come O Come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear Coffee cups I don’t remember much of the particulars of that conversation. I remember fumbling around for words as my […]
“Dwell.” The word hit my ears in a wooden classroom nestled amongst a wooded college campus and mansions of the uber-rich. Then, it seemed, I had all the time in the world to dwell. The words from novels and poetry uncurled, sinking directly into my poet’s heart. Words were the quickest way to dwell in […]
It was in a portable classroom building, a sort of mobile home, where I first learned words and names for the power of story. While my junior high classmates sighed when asked to diagram a sentence for its grammatical parts, I flew to the board to help (Yes, I was that student). I read Tom […]
I wear a lot of hats: mom to 4, author and speaker, academic, and pastor’s wife to a church planter. Most days my life looks small: walk kids to school, get in some writing, go to the grocery store, build relationships with neighbors, work towards growing our church plant. It can be a lonely, isolating […]
What do we do in the wake of Charlottesville? What good are words on the Internet when hate, death, and violence are the order of the day? How does one white woman writer with a small platform engage issues of racism now — when videos show us how hate mushrooms, how the image of God […]
I do not yet know how to belong to a place. It always happens in the in-between space of small conversations, the way the light hits just so, or the accumulated miles where your route “home” becomes something you can do in your sleep. It happens when what was “different” from “there” instead just “is.” […]
A few weeks ago, I turned in the manuscript for my first book to my publisher, Finding Holy in the Suburbs. I suppose there had been others — scrawled words in composition notebooks and spiral notebooks, abandoned stories where I gave up writing and thought I could only write about writing, and a PhD that approximately […]
I grew up on Myers-Briggs, proud of my status as an INFJ: thoughtful, deep, empathetic, goal-oriented. It was a pleasant discovery to find my husband was an INTJ; we had so much in common. Big ideas! Need for quiet! Thoughtful and driven! Yet, I would melt into a puddle of tears that he couldn’t understand. […]
I love this time of year. I bet you do, too. It’s one of the only times where the party invitations keep coming in, the darker nights lend themselves to steaming soups, piping hot bread, and freshly baked Christmas cookies — not to mention more sweets, drinks, and nibbles “because it’s Christmas.” It’s a season of […]
I didn’t want to write a post on social justice. It feels fake sitting on my couch in my largely white, affluent, suburban neighborhood. What do I have to say? As a white woman, I feel like my steps at connection across lines—even on Facebook—feel privileged, bumbling, and awkward. I say the wrong things. I’m […]
Hi guys, Ashley Hales here. At The Mudroom, we love to let you know you’re not alone. We can sit in The Mudroom together, drop off all of our stuff, and know that we have a tribe who listens, understands, and can help hold all the crazy. And we’re privileged to do that even virtually, […]
This month we’ve loved sharing with you more about the recent IVP release, Soul Bare. Our regular contributors, Tammy Perlmutter and Tanya Marlow, have an essay in this collection (as do Sarah Bessey, Emily P. Freeman, Trilia Newbell, and others). Make sure you read about the dreams behind it from editor Cara Sexton, and the interviews with Jennifer Camp and Serena […]
I hope you’ve been paying attention to some of the fabulous writers we’re featuring in a few Saturday interviews this month! Today, Serena Woods is sharing with us about her essay in Soul Bare. (If you missed out, make sure you catch up and read our interview with Cara Sexton and Jennifer Camp). Serena tells […]
If you’re anything like me you pendulum swing between extremes. One day, I’m browsing Pottery Barn and CB2 catalogs and am determined to save my pennies for all the sparkly things in the West Elm store or for the best pair of leather boots on sale at Nordstrom (because, people, when you snag a sale, then […]
You guys! Seriously. This is the book Mudroom readers are desperate for. Not only does it have essays by two of our regular writers (!!) (Tammy Perlmutter and Tanya Marlow), it has so many voices in it all saying the same thing in gorgeous, unique ways: You Are Not Alone. Soul Bare is a new […]
On the cusp of womanhood, we dreamt of boys who would sweep us off our feet, play the guitar, and in the sun-drenched summer days of southern California, carry a surfboard under muscular tanned arms. We wrote bad poetry and were waterlogged from long days at the pool. We ate cookies, drank Coke, and […]