Nobody warned me that doing the right thing could feel so lonely. In high school there were things happening around me that I knew were wrong. Parties I was invited to that I declined. Situations I walked away from when everyone else stayed. Choices I made quietly, without making a big announcement about them, simply... Continue Reading →
Middle school is its own special kind of hard. I was still finding my way — new schools, new faces, trying to figure out where I fit. Even back then the groups formed quickly and the picking started just as fast. I didn't like it. Something in me just wanted everyone to get along. I... Continue Reading →
I used to tie myself in knots before every family gathering. The menu had to be right. The seating had to be right. The conversation had to stay in safe territory. I would spend days anticipating every possible tension and quietly maneuvering around it before anyone even walked through the door. If things stayed calm... Continue Reading →
I don't know about you, but my motives are not always unmixed. I try to convince myself they are. I really do. But pride has a way of slipping in through the back door when I am not looking. And once it settles in, it affects everything. We are good at this, aren't we? Performing... Continue Reading →
Let me say something that might make you a little uncomfortable. Sometimes the hardest people to show mercy to are the ones sitting at our own dinner table. I'm not going to go deeper than that. I don't need to. Because somewhere in your heart, a face just appeared. A name. A situation that still... Continue Reading →
Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness "My mouth's so dry I can't even spit." Our youngest son was camping with his grandparents one weekend. He and his grandmother decided to take a little walk to a grocery store she remembered nearby. It turned out to be not nearly as close as she thought. By the time... Continue Reading →
I can still hear it. "I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan..." If you grew up in the seventies, you know exactly what I'm talking about. That perfume commercial told an entire generation of women that we could do it all. Have it all. Be it all. And we believed... Continue Reading →
I have a confession to make. I was a Christian women's speaker groupie. There. I said it. Two of my closest friends and I used to love going to big women's events together. Driving distance, four hours away, two-day conferences. It didn't much matter. We'd sit in those arenas with thousands of other women, soak... Continue Reading →
I sat at my kitchen table with my Bible open, a cup of coffee going cold beside me, and a women's retreat to prepare. The Beatitudes. Easy enough, I thought. I'd taught these before. Studied them. I basically had this one in the bag. And then I read them again. Something shifted quietly, the way... Continue Reading →
