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in Jesus
Give Thanks in ALL Circumstances? How??
On the eve of Thanksgiving, we walk through tired hospital corridors. We are there to visit a friend, but we can’t meet him because he’s still in the ICU. His sister watches the clock in the waiting room. She is emotionally exhausted—but she is also remarkably resilient. As we talk to her, there’s something else—through ...
How Can We Reclaim Joy?
When my daughter was little, she would present me with dainty bouquets—composed entirely of weeds. We lived in Portland, Oregon, at the time, and on our few and scattered sunny days, my mini-me would joyfully run through the grass, filling her hands with wispy dandelions and wild daisies. When she gave me her handcrafted bouquets, ...
The Real Answer to Procrastination
About half an hour into scrolling through amusing but irrelevant reels, my eyes glaze over, and my brain feels numb. When I look up from my phone, a familiar feeling creeps up on me: frustration. Once again, I’ve wasted more than 30 minutes watching clips of AI-generated babies making ridiculously incisive and somewhat inappropriate comments. ...
What I Learned about God — at a Mosque
As I tilt my head at a certain angle, I catch a glimpse of the shimmering domed ceiling. Though I want to linger, the crowd behind me feels overwhelming — I only take a moment to glance at the mosaic: Mary, robed in a deep blue, sits on a jeweled throne. She holds a young ...
A Holy Hunger, A Divine Discontent
Have you ever stopped in your tracks and thought, “Something’s missing… I’m not sure what it is,” and then, almost immediately, switched back to your routine?
Often, in the distractedness of the daily, we don’t stop long enough to understand why we’re restless or discontent.
In one of my favorite stories in the Bible, Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) ...
What 20 Years of Marriage Has Taught Me
The hubbers and I celebrated 20 years of wedded bliss yesterday.
Okay, that’s not entirely true. While it’s been 20 beautiful years, it hasn’t been all bliss.
Like every married couple, along with the bliss, there’s been some blunders, bloopers, and, well, just plain brokenness (because that’s what marriage is: two flawed people coming together.)
Along with gathering ...
A Good Man: A Tribute to my Dad on his 80th Birthday
I remember crafting you a "poem" when I was eleven years old. It was your 45th birthday and I wrote this for you:
Born in ‘45
Today 45,
Half of 90
In the Year ‘90
You thought my poem was next-level brilliant. Like, Nobel Literature Prize worthy. Like, Shakespeare should be taking notes.
Thirty-five years later, you’re still the biggest cheerleader of ...
A Letter to My Daughter on Her 16th Birthday
Dear Girlie,
Happy 16th Birthday!
First things first.
Now that we let you get a second ear piercing for your birthday, we’re officially in the “cool parents” club. Right?
Who am I kidding?? We’ll never qualify as “cool” parents (or is it “lit” parents now?), will we? To clarify, we will still be asking you to put away your ...
Holy Huddles in the Messy Mundane
I rummage through the snack drawer and pull out a happy assortment of goodies: Hide & Seek cookies, Medjool dates, salted makhana, and some woefully ignored packets of channa dal. Feeling slightly guilty about all the processed snacks, I throw some mandarin oranges into the mix. I deposit the items on the dining table along with three ...
MEET SUSAN
