I approached Thanksgiving two years ago feeling less than thankful. With a body dematerializing before everyone’s eyes for reasons no one could diagnose, I entered the season sick, exhausted, and scared. I could barely get up most days, and when I did, it seemed everyone was posting their “What I’m thankful for” on Facebook. It…
During college, I worked as an orientation leader for two consecutive years. I spent the summers before and after graduation working eighteen-hour days. It was the hardest work I’ve ever done. We lived and worked on campus, and our coworkers were our roommates. It felt like there was no escape. We cried together and because…
I’m sewing crystals on lace, in strings that catch the light of the lamp above my head. Alternating tiny beads, larger glass diamonds, and the occasional pearl. It’s my daughter’s wedding dress, and it must be just right. These lace-and-bead concoctions are the sleeves, a kind of Roaring Twenties look that suits her tiny frame….
“I think it’s hard because we’re just patch-working trying to make it all work.” The words rolled off my tongue with much-too-much ease as my husband and I labored through our predictable weekly rhythm of figuring out schedules, childcare, meetings, and meals. His subtle response to the obvious as he put away dishes and called…
With heads bowed, oxen plod through the soil bound together by a heavy yoke. Jesus uses an image that carries both weight and familiarity with the Jewish people. They understand the agricultural purpose of the wooden harness. The people also know the heaviness of the yoke of spiritual bondage. Trying to live out all the laws…
I’m a first generation American, and one of the blessings that comes from that has been the ability to see our country through the eyes of someone who fought to get here and who has never lost the wonder of achieving that end–my mom. I’ve spent my lifetime witnessing firsthand what freedom does in willing hearts…