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... Read more
Darkness For Behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, and the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. –Handel’s Messiah (from Isaiah, chapter 60) Immensity, cloister’d in thy dear womb, / Now leaves His well-beloved imprisonment. -John Donne “La Corona” We are all some mother’s child, all born through great pain, then a flood... Read more
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... Read more
Some words that are blowing my mind this week, from the amazing Advent book I’m working through. (Preparing For Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent—go now and get this book.): “Our Christian wisdom is to name the darkness as darkness, and the Light at light, and to learn how to live and work in the Light so that the darkness does not overcome us. If we have a pie-in-the-sky, everything-is-beautiful attitude, we are in fact going to be trapped by the... Read more
An Invitation to Ponder When I first started asking God and myself what it means to be a mother who prays in the midst of the chaos of life at home with kids, what it could look like to practice prayer when my life was not quiet, when most of my attempts at a personal prayer time were interrupted and distracted, I begin to think of any examples I could find in scripture. The Bible doesn’t say a lot... Read more
The Lord is With Thee from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 1 They hail me Mary, full of grace. They bless me: brave, obedient—holy. What would you have said to the twelve-foot, light-soaked man, a gold flecked tower whose honey lips spoke your name? I said Yes. Then ran, traveled days, silent, hungry, purging in the grass, to my cousin’s. I knew nowhere else to go. I found Elizabeth, impossibly, full with child. She, fifty and bare, as pregnant as... Read more
Friends, I’m going to ask you to jump over with me to another site again today. (This is just one of those lucky weeks for us!) Christine Gough has been hosting a guest series called: “Vision from the Frontlines: Voices, Experiences & Practices of Faith Development” and today, I’m over there sharing about how our family celebrates St. Nicholas Day. This is as practical as I get, so be excited! I talk about ritual a lot: Ritual and... Read more
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... Read more
Hey friends, Instead of a Thankful Tuesday post, I’m guest posting over at Tanya Marlow’s blog “Thorns and Gold” today. She has a beautiful series in which she’s invited other writers to think about their own suffering and their encounter with God in the midst of it. I’m excited about the piece I wrote. Sometimes you write something down and think: Oh, that’s how I wanted to say it. That’s how writing this was for me. If you have a... Read more
Vol. 1 – An invitation to enter Advent attentive and aware August and I sit outside the ice cream shop on Clement Street, licking chocolate from plastic spoons and watching the bustle of a city Sunday afternoon pass by. We’re having an afternoon together while Brooks sleeps and Chris builds some bookshelves. I’m still, sitting on a park bench beside my kid, quiet and satisfied. When it’s time for his haircut he’s happy with the old Peter Pan cartoon... Read more
Micha Boyett
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