The first time I ever experienced poverty, I was a seventeen-year-old, almost-freshman in college, adventuring through the Amazon River Basin in Brazil for ten days, finalizing my Big Plan for a future life of missionary work. That trip was mostly about one thing: God was going to show me what I was supposed to do with my life. I had dreams of finally making my life count. I was going to sacrifice. I was going to suffer. I was going... Read more
There is so much to tell you people! I’m in the last stages of revising my book before I ship it off to the publisher in two weeks. And tomorrow I have a big announcement I’m super excited to share with you. My friend Kaili is getting married in less than a month and just bought a house this past week and somehow saw fit to create me a gif tribute for my birthday in the midst of Not Much... Read more
When I was in high school I found the verse, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I wrote it in teenage cursive. I made a collage around it. I taped it to my mirror. Delighting. It was another task to accomplish. At some point in my childhood, I learned how to please the grownups. I learned that I was really good at pleasing grownups. And soon, it was what I lived... Read more
“Iliana, Mommy and Daddy tell you these things because we want you to flourish. We want to show you how to live,” we explain. “And when Valentina gets older, we’ll show her and tell her the same types of things.” Valentina is just over a year old, and at six years old, having just started first grade, there’s only so much Iliana can grasp about what it means to flourish. Then again, children absorb more than we give them... Read more
For months we’ve been talking about this. This thing is coming. This change. When all the baby wears off and all that’s left is the kid, the child. All those years that felt eternal. And suddenly–poof–he jumps on his bike and rides ahead of you while you run to keep up. You take Sunday off from the book. You force your brain to stop thinking about what needs to be done and you do all the Home Things, making lunches... Read more
I wish Diana Trautwein and I lived in the same town. If we did, I would force her to meet me for coffee every week and tell me what she’s reading. And then I’d make her be my spiritual director. And then I’d be really sweet and ask her to preach me a sermon. Every week. Until then, I love having her here today. * When I was 17 years old and a recent high school graduate, waiting to both... Read more
I’ve been grinding my mouth guard down to a thin layer of plastic. All night, grinding. I was this stressed one year ago, suddenly making plans to move across the country again with my family, trying to find temporary homes for the months of September and October, begging God to help me find a preschool for my son in San Francisco. Every night last year around this time, I’d plug in my mouth guard as if it were my charger,... Read more
If you don’t know Kristen Howerton’s blog, Rage Against the Minivan, you are missing out on her wisdom, compassion and super sharp wit. She’s a gem. I’m thrilled to have her here today. * I was an amazing parent before I had kids. I had grand ideas about the kind of affirming, patient mother I would be to small children. Prior to having kids of my own, I work as a family therapist. This meant I saw many families in... Read more
It’s been a loooooong time since Thankful Tuesday peeked his little head out of hibernation. Consider this to be a groundhog day of sorts. Mr. Groundhog is coming out and looking for his shadow. And then going back into the warm den. I can’t guarantee how long it’ll be before I’m back and yapping away around here, but the end of my quiet-blog season is up ahead. I hope. I think. I just wanted to say hi and I’m thankful.... Read more
My friend D.L. Mayfield has been hosting a series at her blog about “Downward Mobility,” what it looks like to pursue less stuff and, in doing so, live more fully. When she asked me to contribute, all I could think was how I should not be the poster child for pursuing less stuff. I heart stuff. (Clothes? Toys? Random Kitchen Gadgets? I’m in a constant battle to practice simplicity.) But the good news, the beautiful thing about my life... Read more
Micha Boyett
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