This morning I went to write at the coffee shop, like I do every Saturday. It’s funny how ironic life is, how foreshadowing is a real phenomenon that happens to ordinary people. Last night I mourned loss for a friend. And I remembered a season when all my expectations were shattered, and I was left in my loneliness with God. This morning, I drove half way there to discover my wallet was still at home. And when I finally got... Read more
I have this little spot by our sunroom window that I love. I pulled our outdoor table inside, covered it in my favorite red table cloth, and christened it a blessed place. That’s what I’ve been thinking a lot about lately– place. Place in life, place in seasons, physical places too– my home, the heart and effort that I choose to pour into it. My friend Seth wrote this piece the other day— please read it, so you’ll understand. This is... Read more
The other night, we all gathered into our room, chairs in a circle, chalkboard covered in quote-scribbles, eyes a little glossed over from the weight of the day still dragging behind us. But we gathered in still, and we spent ten minutes in quiet contemplation. Ten minutes in silence, nothing but our body shifting and light scribbling sounding off the walls and windows. In that quiet, God spoke, the way that He often does when we stop our voices and... Read more
There’s just this strange and uncomfortable ebb and flow that happens in life, that happens in our brokenness towards Jesus. I spend weeks sort of avoiding Him, trapping myself under the covers and pretending that I’ve got nothing to do for the day, pretending that there’s no life to be lived outside of that fabric igloo. Then, hopefully, after some time, things begin to chip away. I peek through a hole to see who’s on the outside, I stick my... Read more
I’ve been grappling with my kitchen lately. Maybe the boys are both in growth spurts, and that’s why they’re dirtying every dish until they’re piled all around the place. So I’ve been trying to clear the clutter, to lessen what’s taking up space. I’m pinning organization ideas on Pinterest and I’m staring down my countertops, but I’m not winning the battle. But then I looked in a book that I bought from a library book sale in Missouri last summer... Read more
I think during Lent, the universe knows what she’s doing. Buds take their time opening, rain drops bring gloomy skies and sustenance to dried out ground roots, and the air changes her scent. But it’s a slow transformation, because the journey from Jesus-as-man to Jesus-as-dead to Jesus-as-risen-King-glorified, well, that took a while, too. It was seven years ago in March that Travis proposed, and our new love beckoned us into spring, deeper into the heart of the Father and into... Read more
At the dinner table, I told Eliot to eat his couscous, reminding him to think about the way he misbehaved the night before at dinner. If you’re single or married without kids, snow days can be the perfect excuse to sleep in or have a movie marathon. And with little boys, it can still be a blast– if there’s actually snow to play in– but all we’ve gotten so far is rain and sleet, and two stir-crazy toddlers. So at... Read more
“Every event which might claim to be a miracle is, in the last resort, something presented to our senses, something seen, heard, touched, smelled, or tasted.” –C.S. Lewis, Miracles Today is the last resort. Tonight, Kelly Gissendaner faces lethal injection, the reality of an early death, a reality that snatches miracle away from her prayer-clutched hands. Last night, hundreds gathered on Emory’s campus to remember her, to pray, to try to be part of the miracle. Today, we continue to light our candles and... Read more
Children have an extremely beautiful power in their bones. It begins in their hearts, reaches forward through their bloodstream, and somehow travels to their crescent-moon smiles and glitzing eyes. It is their ability to bring joy to the darkest places, to create hope and fullness in the most trivial moments. They find life in cookies and milk, in pretend tea parties and cheese sticks, in stacking blocks and bouncing balloons. They watch birds and marvel at the misplaced leaf that’s... Read more
As much as I love a good, lone few hours at a coffee shop, sometimes it’s just not where I want to be. Sometimes, I just want to drive. I want to feel the hum of the road beneath me and see street lights buzzing by like fireflies. Sometimes I want that kind of quiet. And sometimes, I wish I could find a Catholic church with her doors standing wide open to me. I’d go inside and sit in the... Read more
Stories - with Kaitlin B. Curtice
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