Last Friday afternoon, I donned my running clothes and wheezed the mile and a half to August’s school, pushing Brooksie in the double stroller. After I picked him up and we all played awhile in the nearby park, the boys climbed in, I set out the snack of goldfish and made promises of hot cocoa at home, just as the sun began to set and the wind picked up its chill. It was a fifty-something degree day in the sunshine. Now our bare hands and noses were red and raw. The boys were cozy with a … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Practice of Slowness
January 17, 2013 By 10 Comments
I was strangely moved by that almost final scene in the movie Lincoln, when the president walks away, his back to the camera, down the long White House hallway and into the shadows. Of course we, the audience, know Lincoln is walking down that hall for the final time. We know he is on his way to Ford's Theater and we know what waits for him there. But that's not what moved me as I watched that scene. What moved me was the slow deliberation of Lincoln's strange, lanky gait. As I watched that … [Read more...]
One Good Phrase: A Series
January 9, 2013 By 21 Comments
There are phrases that have become mantras in my home. There are phrases that are said over and over, every time one of my boys hurts his brother. Your brother will be your best friend your whole life. Are you treating him like a friend? There are phrases I say because I need to remember. We all need to remember. We use our words to love each other.* We use our hands to love each other. There are secrets I barely understand and they are coming out of my mouth. The Lord bless you and keep … [Read more...]
One Word 2013: Enough
January 4, 2013 By 27 Comments
I wish I were a mom with constant craft supplies. I wish I had every kind of glitter available and fresh scented play-dough always waiting for little fingers to mash. I wish I were a mom who filled hours with learning, a mom who sent thank-you notes on time. I wish I had real, practical goals in my mothering life. I wish I weren’t just standing at the kitchen sink while my son begs me to play cars with him again. I wish I weren’t begging him to stop asking so I can finally mop the floor … [Read more...]
Light Your Candles Quietly: Keeping Advent with Mary, Vol. 3
December 17, 2012 By 14 Comments
Vol. 3 - Defiantly Demanding Redemption “In sober fact there is little romance or beauty in the thought of a young woman looking desperately for a place where she could give birth to her first baby… it is a bitter commentary upon the world that no one would give up a bed for the pregnant woman – and that the Son of God must be born in a stable.” (22) -JB Phillips “The Dangers of Advent” (From Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas) Desperation is a word I … [Read more...]
These Sacred Everydays
December 12, 2012 By 8 Comments
Last week marked our very last in the series {This Sacred Everyday}. I have loved this series. I've loved hearing other writers consider what makes their simple lives holy. I've loved being challenged by how beautiful the common tasks of living can be. Thanks for being part of this with me. I kicked off this series in May when I had no idea that by the fall I would be living 1700 miles from our then home. I talked about walking by a flowering bush on my block in Austin that reminded me of the … [Read more...]
{This Sacred Everyday} Annie Barnett
December 5, 2012 By 23 Comments
Today is our last post in this beautiful collection of thoughts on what makes the mundane holy. I can't think of a better way to end our journey than to hear from Annie Barnett, my friend the writer and artist. * I am an artist, and I see all life through this lens. All our days, we are making art: creating, with our hands, our words, our silence and our lives. We make oatmeal for breakfast and love letters to slip into lunch boxes. We write on each others' lives in delicate strokes of … [Read more...]
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