For the life of me, I cannot get clarity right now. Can’t hear God, or feel Him, or see the way forward… At the same time, a great deal is being stirred, shifted, and exposed within my heart. Timidly trusting that growth and healing is taking place, I wonder if God is involved; if He … More He Leads Me Beside Muddied Waters
Fall 2017 has been yet another season of transition for me. Cas began middle school, Jay settled into his new position, Jake (all five of us, turns out) joined a travel soccer league, Molly is learning to read, and I am working most days from bus pickup to bus drop off. All this means my … More Feasting on Full-Circle Moments
Overwhelmed. It’s a state I’m quite familiar with. I thought we’d be less familiar the older my kids get. But Overwhelmed has a way of folding itself into every season of my life, in different forms and manifestations. For several years, God’s been teaching me to ask a specific question that disarms blurred anxiety and … More On Being Overwhelmed: The One Question That Makes Sense of Everything
I’ve been quiet over here – it’s summer, you know. But while I haven’t been writing, I have been reading and listening and thinking. You know our ultimate dual-mandate: to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves? I’ve long considered this a three-pronged mission. For we are to love our neighbors as much as … More The {Less Travelled} Road Back to You // Lessons from the Enneagram
It’s the morning after the last TCAP (Tennessee’s standardized tests), a soft rain just the permission we needed to sleep in. As a third grader, this was Jake’s first experience with the tests that somehow mean everything and nothing. Jake is more of an athlete than a scholar, and I’m still trying to figure out what to … More The Way He Should Go
You walk into your living room and suddenly it hits you: Wait, this place is a mess! Was my house this dirty yesterday? What happened? Who lives here, a gaggle of vermin? Didn’t I just clean… um… a couple days ago? Naturally, the next thought is: the last thing in the world I want to do right … More My #1 Way to Actually Enjoy Cleaning the House
In many ways, I am starting over. Beginning again. Stretching my wings back into the work force, looking for a new church home, mothering and managing exclusively school-aged children, laying down my ‘calling,’ searching for beauty and significance on a level deeper still. All Things New: it sounds so fresh and clean and promising… until you get there… … More All Things New
The West Wing is one of my all-time favorite TV series. I’ve seen every episode at least three times, and am currently working my way through another full run-through while I sew in the afternoons. In season two, the press secretary, CJ Cregg (Allison Janney), has a little encounter with the Organization of Cartographers for Social Equality. The mapmakers highlight the … More The Gift of Seeing Upside Down
I met Mallory almost fifteen years ago, a Belmont communications major ten years after I was (there weren’t many of us), full of energy and joy and laughter and spunk and beautiful words and big dreams and passionate worship. (Worshipping with her at Grace Center was the best.) She and a handful of others were Jay and mine’s pride … More To Mallory, On Her Surpassing Glory
We all know the story of Job and his three friends who came to visit. These three men are generally disparaged for their tiring, all-knowing speeches explaining Job’s misfortunes. It’s true, they talked so much that they ran out of words. Despite their pompous speeches, you know what I think of them? I think they were … More How to Be Job’s friend
