I vividly remember my youth pastor’s wife in high school giving the girls in our youth group at the time a gentle admonishment: You can be kind no matter your personality. Some women are sugary sweet while some of us are spicy. Some wouldn’t hurt a fly while some speak sarcasm fluently. We need both!…
The other day I wrote something I was really proud of. Then, because no adults were around to share it with, I decided to read the piece to my children. At the ages of three and seven, they’re a little young to really understand, but I hoped a little bit of what I thought God…
I had a perm in kindergarten. Every morning my mother diligently primped my hair with her curling iron to perfect it before school. (Never mind that she also had my two-year-old brother to care for at the time.) One morning, probably in a rush to do all the things, my mother accidentally singed the top…
Remind the people…to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always to be gentle toward everyone. (Titus 3:1–2 NIV) Do you, like me, sometimes want to hide in a dark closet when you read the word gentle in Scripture? When I read this passage, though, I saw the idea of being gentle comes…
Special occasions often call for new clothes. My closet is stocked with well-worn favorites, but because I’m not very good at fashion and I don’t love shopping, most of them aren’t what you’d consider on the cutting edge of fashion. My teenager is fond of telling me when I’ve crossed the line into the “no…
I returned home from walking my dog to find a note taped to my mailbox along with a bag of dog—well, you know. My neighbor across the street witnessed me allowing my dog to do his business in the natural, wooded area of their property and then burying said business under a pile of pine…