A Prayer for Election Day
We were apprehensive about that election in 1994: the first democratic vote in South Africa’s history. There had been so much bloodshed leading up to that point, and I was just one of a throng of...
View ArticleOn The Pain of Going to Church and How Community Orchestra Helped
It was hard to be in church yesterday. Trump won the US presidential election, and it is no secret to readers of this blog that I was sad about that (although I will respect him and pray for his...
View ArticleOn Adulting, Growing Up, and Turning 40.
Along with “woke” (aware of societal injustice, especially racism) and “coulrophobia” (fear of clowns), adulting made the 2016 Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year list. I like word lists, and I’ve...
View Article‘Get the Girl to Do It’– Thoughts on race, the space race, and gender in...
I got to see an early screening of Hidden Figures (in theaters this Friday) and wrote about it for Christianity Today Women. Here’s the link if you’d like to click right over to read it, and here are...
View ArticleA Moment for the Middle Child
Seven years ago today, I woke up with a back ache which wouldn’t go away. It got worse and worse, and after an hour of shifting positions, it dawned on me that perhaps—just perhaps—I was in labor. I...
View ArticleWhat I Want More Than an End to Porn
A friend told me recently about a kid in third grade who was having behavioral troubles: saying and doing weird stuff, relating oddly to his peers. A little sleuth work from adults who love him...
View ArticleRoll Your Eyes, Brothers and Sisters
I love it when my phone updates its emojis. My favorite of the new bunch? The face palm. This perfectly capture my response when reading (yet another) profoundly unhelpful article by a Christian for...
View ArticleWhat I want from church: the Jesus of the Gospels
I find it ironic that in the midst of the conversation about the undervalued and misunderstood role of women in the church, the church is often still characterized by preaching a message which is...
View ArticleYour Marriage Might Need Extra Sauce (and other things you didn’t expect)
I’m delighted to share an excerpt from Dorothy Greco’s EXCELLENT new book Making Marriage Beautiful today. I’m so tired of the “30 days/5 ways to being a happier/sexier/better spouse” type of stuff out...
View ArticleUnreliable Mirrors
I’m never sure if it’s a compliment if someone says “you’re really photogenic”. Do they mean “you are attractive and this photo shows it!” Or do they mean “this is a nice photo of you… in real life you...
View ArticleEverbloom: Stories of Living Deeply Rooted and Transformed Lives (Even in Grief)
Many months ago, I received a phone call. It was just after school drop off, and I had gratefully relocated my now-cold coffee cup moments before. “We’re putting together a book proposal. It will have...
View ArticleFinding God in the (Mommy) Whirlwind
How I wish Catherine McNiel’s book Long Days of Small Things – Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline had been around when I was first a mom. Her conviction that God know and sees and loves and longs to...
View ArticleWhich is more blessed: poverty or plenty? (Some thoughts on wealth, faith,...
Gilted Guilt. I’ve been wondering about this recently: the feelings of guilt that—for me and many other Christians—seem to attend the having of things and money. There’s a Scriptural basis for the call...
View ArticleI believe because…
When I was six, I first believed because the Sunday School teacher told us a story about who could be with God forever in heaven. We needed our own ticket, he explained, holding a carefully folded...
View ArticleTeach us to weep
Jen Michel’s book Teach Us to Want remains a highlight of my reading in the past few years. What does it mean to want things as a Christian? Is it okay to desire things, or to have ambition? What place...
View ArticleKnocking on Death’s Door… with Cookies
We moved into our new neighborhood a little over six months ago, and while we’ve had longer conversations with a few of our neighbors, there were a few we haven’t seen much of yet (apart from a quick...
View ArticleTerminal and Loving Every Minute
My guest today is Andrew Budek-Schmeisser. Andrew is a reader of this blog and his comments have left me deeply moved so often that I asked him to write a post for us. Andrew is terminally ill, and it...
View ArticleFueled by laughter
Driving home from a laughter-filled evening last night, my good friend told me a story about a seminar she’d led where she was asked, by way of introduction, to describe her sense of humor. This struck...
View ArticleFeelings are our Friends
I spent some time recently talking with a friend who was a hot mess over a situation. I recognized the symptoms of hotmessery fairly quickly, having been there myself just days before: the big...
View ArticleEeny Meeny Miney NO (talking with my kids about rhymes and race)
My kids were figuring out whose turn it was to do something this morning, and instead of their usual game of rock-paper-scissors, busted out that ubiquitous kids’ rhyme to solve their dispute: Them...
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