I scan my yellow rose bush for blooms that are past their peak. Often, I pluck old blooms mindlessly, but today the task feels somehow wistful. I pluck one, pressing the still-fragrant petals to my nose before dropping them onto the mulch. I hate saying goodbye. Goodbye to something beautiful, something good. Three years ago […]
Faith to Say Goodbye Read More »
Tucked away in Comas, Peru, are glimpses of divine beauty. In a city where the average rainfall is less than one inch a year, color should be hard to find. Indeed, the mountains loom large and blanket the city with a brown, grey dust. Yet, like flowers that God empowers to bloom in the midst
Days 3 & 4: Beauty Reigns Read More »
I was having a hard time finding things to be thankful for in the midst of my crazy-busy, running-ragged-from-one-thing-to-the-next-with-kids-in-tow day in May, 2012. And it didn’t help that I had gotten a speeding ticket. My then 3-year old added insult to injury by wriggling out of his car seat to peek up front and ask
It Only Takes a Spark Read More »
I hide in the hallway, my heart beating fervently with eager anticipation. One woman announces, “She’s here!” A few dozen people scurry to their hiding places in the living room. We hear the door open, shut. And then my best buddy from college walks into her house, nearly blown over by her friends yelling, “Surprise!”
It’s a December Saturday. One of the precious few in the busiest month of the year. I’m drowning in unaccomplished Martha verbs- plan, cook, clean, trim, decorate, hang, shop, wrap, package, create, write, mail, wash, call… The phone rings. It’s my in-laws. And could the boys and I help with Stone Soup’s Christmas day camp
After the murder of George Floyd, racial tensions rose to dramatic levels in America. A man posted our Heart Perception page on Facebook, “I hope you make a statement in support of Black Lives Matter!” For a moment, I was in a quandry. Of course, I believe that black lives matter. And brown lives and
After the Murder of George Floyd Read More »
Sirens blare and lights flash in our neighborhood outside my boys’ bedroom window, jolting me out of bedtime stories. I pull up the window to hear a woman wailing, wails that can only mean someone is experiencing something unthinkable. I bolt down the stairs, out the door, and up the street. Is it Heather? Melissa? Ginny?
Gifts. A gift from the Giver. We stand in a circle at the Christians in Theater Arts (CITA) Latin America 2012 conference, eyes wide, drinking in the creativity, the eagerness of 50 artists gathered in San Juan, Puerto Rico to share dreams, to train for transformation, to breathe deep of the gifts of the Giver.
Offering Our Baskets Read More »
Do you need to get over the fear of saying the wrong thing? Today, it feels very risky to open our mouths. With our polarized culture, we can offend others easily, triggering them to unleash their wrath on us. But we can’t let our fear silence us. Over the last few years in my work
How to Get Over the Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing Read More »
Whenever a political crisis hits our nation, I immediately think of Kellie, my liberal friend in Seattle with whom I founded the Heart Perception Project after the tumultuous presidential election in 2016. I wonder what she’s thinking, and I wonder if we might be able to have a heart-centered conversation about it, unlike the rest
The Kavanaugh Crisis Read More »