I consider February a month in which to take stock of our relationships and consider how and whom we love. We take time to focus on Black history. There is our manufactured holiday on the fourteenth, which we hope is centered on love no matter our relationship status. I also think of how Jesus made…
It was around dinnertime when I witnessed a minor infraction committed by one of my children. I saw my daughter take a yellow crayon and, for seemingly no reason, snap it in half. Before you could say “I’m telling Mom,” my other daughter came over to tattle. I approached the crayon-snapping child and asked her,…
He was tall, dark, and handsome, with a natural curl in his dark brown hair, twin dimples, a jawline chiseled like Michelangelo’s David, and sparkling milk chocolate eyes. He set off fireworks in my heart. All I could do was stare, thinking, Man, that guy would look great in my wedding pictures. Fortunately for me,…
In the twelve years since my first pregnancy, the small miracles and thrilling firsts have faded to simple, warm recollections of a season that has come and gone. I do remember, though, the strange paradox of knowing early on that I was pregnant but not looking or feeling different. It’s a bit mind-bending to know…
One of the things that set Jesus apart was the way he treated women. Throughout the gospels, each writer records Jesus’s unique choices. For example, he went against cultural norms and spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4). Ben Witherington III writes, “It is fair to say that a low view of…
There’s a prevailing belief among Christians that once a person accepts Jesus into their heart, their life will immediately become easier and they will experience fewer struggles. I have been a victim of this thinking before. When a new hardship invariably comes along (because this world has many troubles), we feel devastated. We erroneously believe…