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Receiving…
My strong friends, the ones who meet the needs around them are the first to offer what they have, and the last to ask for what they need. These women (and men) pour themselves out on behalf of others, and they sometimes forget that they need filling too.
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Midlife threshold: Recommit
In that dark time, I realized that my faith had been built on a wide and deep foundation of need. My need. I had come into this relationship empty and broken by grief and loss. The need had seemed unending. And yet, here I was over twenty years later realizing that my need was no longer enough.
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The faith of our youth…
When my kids were little, I had visions of our shared future. I imagined myself surrounded each Sunday morning with a throng of kids and grandkids filling a couple of pews in my local church. My hope was not without precedent. I had seen extended families gathered, maybe not every week, but often for holidays like Easter and Christmas. I looked longingly when I saw families of multiple generations gathering to worship together in the pews of our little church, and hoped someday we might fill our pew with a gang of worshippers in their Sunday best. Share this...FacebookPinterestTwitterLinkedin
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The Strong Ones…
this space has become a place where we can be both. There are places in my life that require me to be strong. There are a few places that allow me to be weak. There are very few that support me when I’m both. Around this table, we have created a space for both.
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Making new friends…
In this season of my life, I am realizing that new friendships are harder to come by. As my life has shifted and reshaped itself over time, there are fewer hours to find for new faces. Where once, we could spend long afternoons getting to know one another over slow cups of coffee, now we must fit it in between the blocks of our already overscheduled lives.
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We the people…
It seems to me that we need to create some spaces where proximity allows us to see each other again. To recognize that though we might disagree, we are still better together. Places where we turn down the us and them rhetoric and lean into our shared humanity. I long for places we might encounter a stranger and find a friend.
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Rest…
For me, it is time away from my office and responsibilities. It means putting aside the laptop and picking up a book. It means ignoring the housework and daily responsibilities, but I might decide that process of preparing a pot roast would feed my soul.
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People-ing…
If I am spending time with people, I want it to be like this. Not superficial, but real and true. It still takes all my energy to be with people, even my people.
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12 people…
As a chronic measurer, it has been difficult to not measure success by the number of likes or followers. I am committed to measuring my faithfulness to the task, not the result
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A good funeral…
It is good for me to remember that living and dying are not mutually exclusive. Inevitably, dying is a part of life. It is good for my heart to recognize that time rolls forward, and long days are not a promise but a gift.