{This Sacred Everyday} Suzannah Paul

suzannah1

I first felt a kinship with Suzannah Paul when I discovered her blog and our shared former youth minister status. Then I realized she grew up the same area of Philadelphia as my husband. Then I realized she not only believes in poetry, she writes it! (Also, she lives at a camp, which is my secret dream.) I had the chance to meet her this past April and she instantly felt like a kindred. So grateful to share her with you today.  * * * "Are you writing, or do you want to come for a … [Read more...]

Poem-a-Day Friday: Mark Strand

This is how it happens: You grieve the news that you will leave your home. You grieve it from afar and then you speak it. You speak it to the people in your world. You speak it with care and with sincerity. You say it over and over and you start to believe: This is true. This is really going to be true. And you organize your kids' clothes. You organize the baby clothes your little boy was wearing 6 months ago. (Six months ago and he was that little? And now that brain of his taking it all in, … [Read more...]

{This Sacred Everyday} Mihee Kim-Kort

Mihee

On Sunday mornings, after I drop the twins off in the nursery, and quickly run from their screams (which, thankfully, only last a few minutes, I’m told by the care-givers), I sit. Lean back as comfortably as one can on a wooden church pew. Look up. Breathe. The sanctuary in my husband’s church is large, but relatively modest. It’s Presbyterian, after all. Protestant. Reformed. Meaning, it’s not meant to be extravagantly ornate since that would take away or distract from God’s glory … [Read more...]

A post that ends with grace.

Album cover from E Power Biggs via Kami L on Pinterest

Send out your light and our truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling. Psalm 43:3 The blogging life is the weirdest. Most days, I post something and hope that my mood and my hormones and my common sense all collide with my inner artist and that something beautiful is waiting on the screen for all the readers who will come and listen. Other times, I realize I let my Crazy out and now everyone knows. Of course, I’ve warned you that she (my Crazy) … [Read more...]

Everything we carry with us.

ginger-ella.tumblr.com via Jasmine Marie on Pinterest

Yesterday I packed suitcases. I packed a bin of toys for our month in Austin. (We’ll be in a temporary home.) I packed a bin of toys to be delivered to us our first month in San Francisco. (We’ll also be in a temporary home there until November.) I packed fall clothes for all four of us in a bin. I packed suitcases for the month of September. I packed bibs and sippy cups and plastic bowls. I packed clothes for my vacation (alone!) with my husband at the end of September. (I’ll tell you … [Read more...]

Waiting

image from Pinterest via Denise Lieb

I wait for the Lord; my soul waits for him; in his word is my hope. Psalm 92:4   I wait alone in my room, my hands open, arms raised. I wait in silence while my husband and boys read books in the other room. “Brooksie, where is August’s nose?" I hear Chris say. "Do you see August’s nose?” I wait as I read my little boy to sleep in his room and look around it in the dusk. How many more nights till he loses his room? 10 nights? I wait. I wait while we search for a place … [Read more...]

Checking In…

At the park after church on Sunday...

Friends! I miss you guys. It’s very weird to go through a week and keep all my deep thoughts to myself. It’s probably a good practice in non-vanity. (No, every thought is not deserving of daily blog posts, fancy-pants Boyett!) I have, however, shared my thoughts with the Mister. And I wrote them down. (Take that, humility/guilt-inducing voice in my head!) I can’t tell you all how grateful I am for your prayers and notes of encouragement this past week. Seriously, am I the luckiest? … [Read more...]

When Prayer is Everything

It's Sunday and I’m sitting on the very last row of a jet moving thousands of feet in the air (Is that true? How high do jets fly?) on my way to New Orleans. I’ve never been to New Orleans before and this was not how I intended to get there. But, here I am, flying alone, on my way to speak about prayer to 200 high school students there this week for a mission trip. I’m not a slick speaker. Actually, Andy Cornett (who for some reason I’ve yet to understand asked me to speak), … [Read more...]

Poem-a-Day Friday: Tony Hoagland

I know I keep giving you poems from poets I don't know enough about to really discuss. But I'm at my parents' house, watching my kids fill up hours and hours playing with their cousins until it's way too late. And I can't help it: I'm full of nostalgia. I love Amarillo summer nights, how dry it is, how it cools down into the low 80s and everything glows the same shade as the setting sun. I love how late the sun stays up here (9:30 these days) and how it feels like an eternity from dinnertime to … [Read more...]

{This Sacred Everyday} Enuma Okoro

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I can't tell you what a Great Big Ol' Deal it is to have Enuma Okoro here today. She is a fellow Patheos blogger, a lovely thinker, and has one of those smiles that makes you want to forget whatever you were just complaining about. (After you finish this post, I hope you'll read her books.) I'm thankful she's willing to spend some time with us.   Breakfast at Gretchen's We lived on the same apartment floor in Paris. For weeks we passed one another with casual greetings in the … [Read more...]