This would work a whole lot better if you were sitting in my living room. As I pester you with tea choices (black, green, or herbal?), heat the teakettle, and pour you a fragrant cupful in a brightly flowered Polish mug, I’d be bubbly and a little too talkative, with lots of hand motions and tales ... read more
Why I See Hymns as a Time Capsule of Trust
The other day, my brother stopped plowing snow to tell me that the setting sun had just dropped into line with the ice-clad treetops. Outside our kitchen window, branches sparkled with diamonds against a melba and dove-grey sky. I grabbed my camera, while my brother shucked his enormous boots for me ... read more
Real-Life Love Stories to Give You Hope While You Wait
Why do I love reading love stories that really happened? Is it the part of me that enjoys real butter, homemade bread, chicken soup from scratch . . . or the fact that a little suffering creates a great big desire for authenticity? Most of all, I think it’s the fact that true stories show me another ... read more
To Joey, With Love: A Movie Review
About four years ago, Joey and Rory Feek, a Country and bluegrass duo – and real-life husband and wife – were set to film a music video at their farmhouse in Tennessee. But last minute, someone made an unexpected decision: Rory was not going to sing in the video.The song they were filming was a ... read more
How to Find Your Vocation
Your vocation: what is it?It isn’t exactly the same as your career or job, says Jeff Goins, though it may include them. Its scope is life-long: it is the theme you will return to again and again, however many times your specific job description might change. The fact that I've gone from teaching ... read more
How to Find the Fountain of Youth
When I was an awkward, anxious twenty-something who felt hopelessly crippled by shyness, it dawned on me one day that even a stick-in-the-mud might actually be transformed into the kind of person who joyfully welcomes new people, new adventures, and new growth in my heart.It might be possible to ... read more
Blameless (a book review)
Where do you suppose shame comes from?I posed this question to a women's Bible class recently, and one young woman replied, "From Adam and Eve."From two leaf-clad sinners, trembling with shame in the bushes because they'd just distrusted the most loving Person in their life...and all for a ... read more
Culture in Crisis
In August 2014, Thomas Umstattd, Jr. published his blog post, “Why Courtship is Fundamentally Flawed.” It sparked a firestorm, racking up more than 1,500 comments, provoking numerous rebuttals from other bloggers, and inspiring a Kickstarter campaign that led (just one year later) to a book entitled ... read more
Around the World in 80 Kitchens
Once upon a time, I was a skinny blonde seven-year-old, learning to make cookies in a ranch-style home in California. I left the actual baking to my mamma: a mysterious process that involved way too much heat for me. And that was my very first kitchen, a place that has since become my natural ... read more
Every Bitter Thing is Sweet
Yesterday, I sat in a dentist's waiting room, while the clock ticked two hours past my appointment time. It was packed: at least a dozen people sat waiting, watching TV with Hebrew subtitles, while the dentist punctuated the subdued murmur with repeated cries for his very busy secretary, and I tried ... read more
