My friend and I were huddled over our laptops, hands hugging mugs of black tea as we worked on a shared Google Doc. We share quite a bit in common, this friend and me. We are both writers by profession, aesthetically-oriented and motivated by stories, people and faith. We see metaphors throughout life’s ordinary moments,…
In the past few years, I've gotten to meet several writers I admire, and I am so grateful for what the craft of writing teach me. Writing is a formative part of my life, and writers are big influences. Well, more like friends. A friend and I have joked that we would rather have our favorite…
The bell on the doorway clanged as I ducked out of the rain and into the shop. It was an unassuming place, but brightly decorated. Small window displays advertised new clothing arrivals, and neon signs told the sales of the day. “Hello there!” cheered the woman behind the counter, smiling up from her calculator and…
Sunday comes. Church. I slow down after a full weekend. The guitar sings come thou fount of every blessing, and my heart is stilled and reminded that each and every blessing has one source. It is spelled on screens, sung by weary and united voices. As I watch summer greens electrify our sidewalks with the first signs…
We were sitting in the sleek, stiff-backed chairs tucked around our small office conference room. “Have I told you my analogy about the elephant and the sapling?” my boss asked me while clicking his ballpoint pen. I shook my head. The air conditioner hummed lazily. “It’s the story of a baby elephant who is tied…
This post originally appeared on the blog at Qara.org, an online forum designed to equip, inspire, and empower twenty-somethings to embrace their season and live wholehearted lives. According to a recent New York Times story, dissatisfaction is rampant among working Americans today. Maybe you can relate. When we are restless and unhappy at work, we will actually don’t do…
Continue reading ➞ Dear Hard Worker, Here’s a Practical Guide to Cultivating Gratitude
I was sitting with a mom of three while the band warmed up at church. As the sounds of tuning guitars echoed through the small room, my new friend expressed her relief. She and her husband had just moved their little family across the country eight months before, and she was finally starting to feel like…
If we look for God's fingerprints, we will find them. In the most unlikely places. In the board room and the classroom, the kitchen and the convention center. The simple gives way to the sacred through the work of God's people.
"I eventually realized my own humanity. Our message of God’s grace is exponentially more powerful when we embody a picture of the gospel instead of just preach it." - my friend Andrea Joy Wenburg We couldn't see the floor. It was this time last year, and my friend's living room was packed with air mattresses…
Even if things are good, even if you have the job and the full schedule, the community and the routine, even if the summer brought you sweetness and the fall feels ripe with purpose. Even so. We are never, ever without a need to be held by God in the midst of it all.
