faith

  • Book

    I’ve been following a recent online discussion about the value and practical workings of platform building in the Christian publishing and speaking industry. The players in the discussion are all published, known figures, and they speak about how personal branding, and the targeting of ‘likes’, clicks, and views on social media has put the industry,…

  • Bryan

    In 2011, a man named Bryan moved into our town and saw the dire need for a traffic light on the corner of Broad and High. He researched, circulated petitions, contacted town and state officials, and got the process underway. In 2014, Bryan died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 51, leaving a loving…

  • Boat

    Sometimes when I’m looking for a little direction, I’ll click on the ‘Laudate’ app on my phone, which contains the readings of the day. When I scan through, a phrase might pop out at me from a psalm or a gospel, or a whole reading might strike me in a new way, or some days…

  • Open

    This morning’s ‘Jesus Calling’ devotional asked me to open my hands and be ready to receive abundant blessings, and I was totally on board. Abundant blessings are always welcome here, after all, and the timing couldn’t have been better. I had a down day yesterday and a weepy night and I was ready for the…

  • Loop

    Last night I heard a musician/priest perform with a loop station. He’d play a little bit of guitar and it would play back and then he’d add something on top of it and loop that.   He’d sing something into the loop and then harmonize with himself over and over. You’d think it would be repetitive…

  • Mary

    As I meditate on the Passion of Jesus, my thoughts inevitably turn to Mary. Any of us who are mothers know the feeling of watching our children suffer. Sometimes we can help, kiss the boo boo, make everything better. Sometimes we can be a shoulder to cry on, and sometimes we can do nothing at…

  • Possible

    I dropped my kid off in the dark to catch the bus that will take her and her classmates to Washington DC. On the way home, the sky lightened, and it was the particular kind of spring light that makes everything look impermanent. Houses and buildings took on a cardboard quality, like they were a…

  • Walk

    I am one of a small handful of women in the world who dislike getting pedicures. The language barrier and my ticklish feet are part of my discomfort, but the biggest issue I have is that I don’t like the feeling of being served. Today, as the temperature inched over seventy degrees for the first time…

  • Sorry

    One by one, my students were telling me about the pretend flowers they grew in music class, and what they planned to do with them. “I grew a red rose and I’m going to keep it in my room so I can look at it.” “I grew a yellow flower and I’m going to give…

  • With, and a Little Ahead

    My dog, Bailey, walks with me and a little ahead. She can often smell or sense things I cannot, so in those moments, she’ll take the lead, but otherwise she stays with me, side by side. With me and a little ahead. It brings back a memory of when I was twenty, invited on retreat…