You Are What You Read :: My One Word for 2021
I taught our four sons at home for 20 years, from the time the oldest entered third grade until the youngest graduated from high school. Homeschooling was a "career" I loved and I would do it all over again. Choosing curriculum and writing lesson plans for students covering a 10-year age gap exposed me to lots of great educational resources...
Breaking the Silence to Cast My Vote
The LORD is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him. Habakkuk 2:20 October has been a noisy month. So much so that my own voice was silenced. All the chatter and declarations, accusations and politicking surrounding the upcoming presidential election left me at a loss for words. I wrote very little during October, letting...
Co-author Your Story
A valuable, time-tested spiritual practice that can be incorporated into your rhythm of life is the Examen. In the third episode of Tell Me A Story podcast, I introduce you to this centuries-old practice and share how it's helping me join God in authoring my life story. The Examen helps you do just what it says -- examine each day by holding...
Our Stories Matter
“To lose track of our stories is to be profoundly impoverished not only humanly but also spiritually.” ~ Frederick Buechner, Author, Storyteller, Theologian Our neighbor, Bud, has lived in this rural Indiana valley as long as we have, but before he landed here, he called the hills of West Virginia “home”. Bud is a wood carver who...
Welcome to my podcast :: Tell Me A Story
Fall is the perfect season for stories around the campfire. It's also a great time to launch a podcast! Welcome to Tell Me A Story. Stories are all around us. They're used to entertain, to sell, to persuade and to inspire. We tell stories to share truth and sometimes to hide the truth. Our stories have power. They matter. Fostering our stories...
Slow Down and Respect the Process
Driving west on a local highway early one morning, I met a runner trudging along at the edge of morning traffic. Sweat dripping from his face, he took care to stay in the berm as semi trailers and morning commuters flew by. Through my windshield I spied a look of pain that revealed an all-too-familiar message: "This is hard. I'm not sure I can...
Un-Masked: When Our Eyes Do the Talking
A trip to England, a writing workshop in Alaska, visits with my kids in Nashville and Chicago, a friend's wedding ... The list of things I've missed during this pandemic is lengthy and counting the losses can be discouraging, even painful. I'm sure it's the same for you. Some freedoms -- such as dining in restaurants, going to movies and...
Do You Have Questions About Racism? Me, Too
"Let us speak for ourselves." The words stung, but they needed to be said. In response to an all-white panel discussion a few years ago around the topic "how can white authors write about and for people of color", this one statement gave us the answer we needed. Step aside. Hand us the microphone. Let us speak. Fueled by the events of the past...
Is It Time to ‘Reimagine’ and ‘Begin Again’?
Last December, I began considering whether I needed or wanted "one word" for 2020. I was looking back on a challenging, eventful year and the one word I thought would guide me through 2019 had been lost in the shuffle. I can't even tell you right now what it was. Then in January of this year, two words together began showing up everywhere --...
Motherhood: On Prophets and Gardening
Whether you are a mother or have a mother -- or both -- this week you're likely thinking about what Mother's Day means for you.
