Siblings – and Genius

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

Anyone with a sibling knows that siblings are competitive at times – and apparently, that doesn’t diminish for poets and other literary figures – but sometimes, that competition can spur us on to great things. Casey N. Cep wrote a piece for The Poetry Foundation’s blog about literary siblings: The persistence of the rumor reflects the curious, cloistered upbringing of the Brontës, but also the more universal experience of siblings. Collaboration and competition between brothers and sisters exists no matter their... Read more

Does Anyone Take a Day of Rest Anymore?

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

Amy Julia Becker published a great piece on her blog thinking about Andy Crouch’s new book Playing God— about power– and the Sabbath. In her piece, Becker asks: are there any Christians who take a day of rest anymore? My soul is restless, even though God has invited me to rest in the truth, love, and grace of the gospel. My soul believes that a clean kitchen will give me peace. My soul believes that control over my schedule will give... Read more

Facebook: Rediscovering 14th Century Community Values

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

Last week at The High Calling, Marcus Goodyear wrote about going to his wife’s high school reunion and making a surprising discovery: Apparently high school reunions are on the wane because of Facebook. Barely 10% of my wife’s class came out to see each other in person. Honestly, this surprised me. I expected that Facebook would have helped people stay in touch. I expected the constant small moments of digital presence would make people long for something more. This is... Read more

Across the Dividing Lines

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

At Christianity Today‘s This Is Our City project, they’re asking a provocative question: can urban and suburban Christians agree? One of the most powerful and effective promises given to the Church is the power of agreement. A supernatural force is released from heaven and revealed on earth when believers decide to faithfully and intimately agree in spirit, prayer, purpose and power. When this level of agreement is reached, Jesus promises that anything that is asked will be done by the... Read more

For the Love of Books

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

At the High Calling, they’re talking about the love of books – and starting off with A Prayer for Owen Meany. (I admittedly haven’t read the book, but nearly everyone I know loves it.) I remember more of the individuals in that class than I do from any other class I took in college: the studious red-head who sat at the front of the class and answered all the questions (now a professor); the thoughtful girl with the long brown hair... Read more

In Sickness, In Health

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

I spotted two articles recently about vocation . . . and illness. At Good Letters, Paige Eve Chant wrote about “how to write in a sick person’s body“: At first, I thought I might keep it a secret, this new disease, because privacy is a long-lost treasure in this world. I was eager to set something apart, to call something mine and mine alone. It made me feel powerful, toting around this secret knowledge, harboring this (mostly) invisible disease in... Read more

Upward Mobility Has a Downside

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

Related to yesterday’s post: at The High Calling, David Rupert recently reflected on the downside to upward mobility: The Wall Street Journal article, “Hold On To Your Dream Job,” cites a survey that claims “3 in 4 employees say they have no desire to move up in their organizations.” This goes against the presumption that we are all clamoring the upward ladder. It seems that most of us are perfectly happy, right where we are. We like comfortable. Tom Nelson, author of Work... Read more

Why We Shouldn’t Try To Be Awesome

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

At the new magazine In Earnest, which launched yesterday, Emily Schatz wrote about why young people need to “stop trying to be awesome.” One problem with the “be extraordinary” model is that, for spirits with any temptation toward vanity, it can become a preoccupation with how put-together one looks at the expense of accomplishing real goals—a model for workplace failure if there ever was one. More fundamentally, it isn’t true to life. It elevates natural virtuosity over hard work and... Read more

Nostalgia in a YouTube Clip

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

Sesame Street premiered in 1969, which means that most of us have watched it—many as children (a child born in 1969 is turning 44 this year). So it was with great pleasure that I watched this clip – a remix song made up of mostly old Sesame Street clips that I remember. It’s just fun, because it’s Friday. Enjoy. Sesame Street Remix Read more

Liturgy of Life

Last updated on: March 13, 2015 at 3:27 pm By Alissa Wilkinson

Over at the Washington Institute’s website, Madison Perry is writing about a topic that is getting a lot of play these days – the liturgies that shape our lives: Rather than painstakingly lay out how work’ is a predatory liturgy that seeks to devour all others, it could be better to consider the flip side. Perhaps work is a place where we can be trained to be speak better and to give our limited time its proper value and to... Read more