A friend passed along a story the other day about schools closing for days or even weeks to prevent teachers from burning out and quitting. Of course, this set off a firestorm with parents, who scrambled to figure out what to do with their kids at the last minute while experiencing their own burnout. Burnout… Continue reading Burnout
When I say the word “spirit” or “spiritual,” I think most of us think of a realm of incorporeal beings whose presence we might feel deep within us from time to time but whose existence we cannot prove and only see at frightening and pivotal moments. Like the ghosts of Christmases past, present, and future… Continue reading One in Spirit
If you’ve been following me for awhile, you might remember a few blog series I started to write then stalled out. Most notably, one on two kinds of love. As my way of seeing the world has shifted over the last half dozen or so years, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to articulate what I… Continue reading Just a Word
As a writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about the imagination. As a writer who likes to tackle spiritual things, that takes a different twist. After all, what is prayer if it’s not imagination turned outward, a vision of possibility that we’re looking to align with the universe? For the sake of argument,… Continue reading Imagining Greatness
On thing we've embraced as a culture (and that I have wholeheartedly embraced personally) the last few years is the beauty and the power of brokenness. Here’s a quick roll call of some artists of the broken that come to mind for me: Ann Voskamp, author of the wildly and perennially popular One Thousand Gifts,… Continue reading What if we’re not broken?
I want to tell you a story. Stories are how we see the unseen. Truth is something that is written so deeply in our hearts that we have to carve away chunks of ourselves to find it. It is something that we often uncover much more effectively through living and storytelling than through logic or… Continue reading Love Never Fails: Part 1
I don’t usually read my alumni magazine, but the cover of the spring issue caught my eye. It arrived a few short weeks after I began working from home due to the pandemic, and it has stayed within sight through the months since, on my couch, on my coffee table, my kitchen counter, my bed.… Continue reading One in Spirit
I've had quite a few people ask about my blog, since I haven't posted since September. The reality is that most of what I post here is pre-writing for my book. I put up ideas I'm having trouble hashing out on my own, and your responses help me see where I'm going. Lately, the book… Continue reading A Few Unfinished Thoughts about Gratitude
This is the second in a series of blog posts about two kinds of love. I’m currently writing about the first kind, constrained love. (If you go back to read the other posts, start from the bottom. They are in reverse order.) This is a process blog. In this case, that means I’m writing about… Continue reading A Tale of Two Loves (Part 2): Love in the Age of Fear
This particular topic has come to me three completely unrelated ways in the last week, so I decided to write an open letter to church leaders. I hope it’s helpful. Dear Church Leader, If you’re like me, you grew up in the church and heard many teachings about the sanctity of marriage, about what’s an… Continue reading Abuse: It’s Not Only Where the Bruises Are