I love lists. I really do. As a matter of fact, I'm itching to make a grocery list right now. Then I want to make another to-do list, because the one I wrote two days ago is missing several things -- some I've already done, but writing them down just to cross them off makes sense to me. So when the end of the year rolls around and every media ...
This year has been a hard one. People have taken sides on every issue under the sun, armed themselves with opinions and rights and offenses and wrongs, and proceeded to hurl word-grenades at each other, one after another, until the air has become so thick with anger and frustration that we can barely see who we’re fighting. Even in the best ...
One of our neighbors down the street has a tree that turns a brilliant orange every fall. I love driving toward my house and looking up to see those brightly colored leaves; it makes me smile every time. Sometimes, though, my eyes drift toward the big tree in the corner of my own yard. The one with boring yellow leaves, always turning later than ...
"Show us Your faithful love, Lord, and give us Your salvation." {Psalm 85:7} Love and Strings "How many times have I told you?" "Why should I believe you when you've said the same thing before?" "Don't you remember how nice I was to you today? And then you do THIS?" "I'm DONE! I mean it. This is it. I can't take anymore." I've said these ...
Last month I traveled to Kenya with Mercy House. I had grand visions of posting every day during my trip -- but spotty (at best) WiFi made that impossible. So I revised my plans and took notes for all the posts I'd write as soon as I got home -- but my heart or my head or my something has made that also impossible. This post is the first thing I've ...
You know how, sometimes, when you're talking with a friend for a long time, you can end up talking about something so random, so unrelated to your original topic, that you can't help but say, "How on earth did we get HERE?" I love trying to think back and remember which rabbit trails and diversions landed us smack in the middle of, "Remember ...
I stood in the dark auditorium, tears racing down my face, falling faster than I could wipe away. I was grateful the lights were low and hoping this wouldn't be one of those Sundays where we're told to greet the people next to us or grab a neighbor's hand as we prayed. Thankfully, the lights stayed low, the music carried on, and I sobbed in ...
I have a lot of plates. A LOT. Too many, really. When I got married 15 years ago, I registered for the same dishes my cousin had registered for the year before at her wedding. I didn't know it at the time and didn't do it on purpose -- but nobody was surprised when we realized it. See, I've been copying my cousins my entire life, and when faced ...
My friend -- and fellow (in)courage writer -- Sara Frankl passed away in 2011, but she is still teaching me about choosing joy. As I worked on the book that tells her story and shares her message of hope and joy, I was amazed and moved to read about the incredible strength Sara drew from her faith. That inner strength allowed her to withstand ...
I wonder if we'd be so gung-ho about New Year's resolutions if January didn't come so quickly after December. The holiday season, with all its fun and festivities and falalas, also gives us obligations, stress, and to-do lists (or credit card bills) a mile long. And after pushing ourselves to exhaustion or gorging ourselves on red and green ...
