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KATE BOWLER Author. Professor. Incurable Optimist.

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RECEIVE A
BLESSING EVERY WEEK

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Hello my dear,

We're so excited you are joining us this Advent, which begins on Sunday, November 28th.

Download Advent Devotional

If you'd like to invite others to join us, send them to this link: https://katebowler.com/advent/

Kate

Advent 2021

Stay Connected

Feb 2

Somehow people’s love and pain and fear rings through us all. And then requires something of us.Bryan Stevenson and the work of @eji_org teaches us that best.Listen to our full conversation via the link in my bio.

Feb 1

We can be grateful AND disappointed. Grateful AND heartbroken. Grateful AND wish we never had to learn any of this.
Here’s to telling the WHOLE truth.

Jan 30

Hello over-doers! Hello overachievers of all kinds! This bit of wisdom from Liz Gilbert was so wonderfully damning. Let’s turn down the volume down. Let’s simmer down on our own expectations?
Click on the link in my bio to listen to my full conversation with @elizabeth_gilbert_writer because SHE IS THE BEST.
But is there anything today we can, you know, NOT do? Let’s inspire each other with crap WE WILL NOT DO. 👇🏻

Jan 29

a blessing for when you're feeling grouchy
(from our new book of blessings—2/14)God,
complaining is completely underrated. How else can I be honest?Every frustration has me spinning. And the sheer volume
and timing of each new problem
has me convinced this is a conspiracy. Are they trying to ruin this for me?I’m trying.
I’m honestly trying here.God, come meet me here.
Chip away at my chippiness.
Calm my racing heart.
Loosen this feeling in my chest.Blessed are we when we notice
that the day is trending in the wrong direction.
No matter how hard we try,
the answers are not coming, and even the questions
have all trailed away.Blessed are we when we recognize that it’s time to just stop,
find a moment alone,
And breathe.Blessed are we,
who notice something emerging, a memory of truth revealed,
of mercy received,
a comfort, a word.And how grateful are we
who take the first step,
and find it has its own springs.

Jan 27

Have you ever felt romantically attracted to a book? WELL HA-CHA-CHA does this one look fantastic. All cat calling and wolf whistling welcome below.  
(The Lives We Actually Have comes out on Valentine’s Day so yeah. It’s going to be emotionally available at that time. Link in bio for the book, not the relationship.)

Jan 26

It is taking me a long time to accept that it’s a *good* thing to need other people.Here’s to having needs and accepting our horrible, horrible interdependence. 🥂

Jan 25

We wrote our new book of blessings with you all in mind. We wanted to make space for blessing our ACTUAL lives. The beautiful. The messy. The don't-have-it-figured-out-yet. The is-this-ever-getting-better. And everything in-between.So, we wanted to ask you. What do you need a blessing for? Leave it in the comments below. 👇🏻We'll select one comment and write you a custom blessing (AND send you an early copy of our new book of blessings while we're at it ✨).

Jan 24

Hello my dears. Who else here needs a gentle day? 🙋🏻‍♀️ This one’s for you.From our new book of blessings, THE LIVES WE ACTUALLY HAVE (coming 2/14).

Jan 23

This is just the permission we all need, isn’t it?The wonderful and funny @elizabeth_gilbert_writer on how to just be cool and listen for God’s voice. (And maybe stop exhausting everyone around us...?)Click on the link in my bio to listen to our full conversation.

Jan 22

a blessing for friends who hold us up
(from our new book of blessing—2/14)God, you called me to love
but people are inherently risky.
Telling my story, being known, asking for help,
complaining again about
the thing I worry might sound cliché by now. Shouldn’t I be over it already?But something is happening when I am known.
I am becoming stronger somehow.I am reminded of the pillars I’ve seen
holding up cathedrals.
Flying buttresses, engineered to provide support for a fragile wall,
allowing them to be built taller, more stunning, more covered with ornaments
or filled with stained glass,
letting all the colorful light dance in.
The walls would collapse without them there, but strengthened, they create something beautiful.
God, when I am no longer quite so tall and strong, give me those who hold me up
and remind me of who I am and that I’m loved.Yes, I’ll get back up again today.
Yes, I’ll get those kids cereal
and help my parents with an errand.
Yes, I’ll go to work or come up with something better to do with retirement hours.I will try again.
I know I will,
because someone else’s absurd faith in me
is fortifyingSo, blessed are our flying buttresses.
For they hold us up
when everything seems ready to come apart, allowing us to face today—
not because we’re doing it alone—
but precisely because we aren’t.

Jan 20

Let’s take ourselves off the hook for perfection. Who’s with me?We’re never going to be our perfect selves. AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE PRESSURE ON WOMEN FOR A SECOND? Sweet mercy. Here’s to getting more of our humanity back by not trying to be “perfect” anymore. (Unless everyone has a bustle. Then apparently it’s within reach.)

Jan 19

If our justice isn’t rooted in love for everyone, we’re not doing it right.When our seeking justice makes us feel superior or condescending, that can’t be right. When our seeking justice makes us hate others, well that can’t be right either. Bryan Stevenson is the model of how to fight hard and love harder.Click on the link in my bio to listen to my full conversation with the generous and wise, Bryan Stevenson of the @eji_org

Jan 17

Let’s BLESS IT ALL shall we? Even (especially?) those pain-filled days... when our bodies feel like the enemy.

Jan 15

a blessing for a little boost in the morning
(from our new book of blessings—coming 2/14)Today is new, oh God,
The light is gathering and spilling onto everything. The sleeping and the sleepy.
The trees brushing the window.
Even the unwashed dishes know it’s time.What a gift.
Unopened.Lord, you know the obstacle course ahead.
The intractability of most of my problems.
The irritations I will need to smile through.
The forgetfulness that will undo my best efforts. And the fights I will need to pick because someone really should.But bring me back to this moment, God.
The gratitude that rises up within me
lifts my eyes and settles my soul.
Resurrection has happened again today—
you made the sun rise,
and brought love to the world already,
in the shape of a cross.The hardest work is already done.
The work that remains is simply more of it: more love, more trust,
more faith in the unseen pleasure you take just gazing at us, sitting here.
We look ahead at a day that we can’t control but will be, somehow, already yours.

Jan 13

There is a myth we all buy into, somehow. The myth that tells us that if we feel fragile, we must be doing something wrong.But it takes such courage to live. Sending you all a big hug if today is a hard day.

Jan 12

Let’s bless it all this Lent—all the lovely and garbage and heartbreaking and hopeful.Free Lent guides for individuals, groups, and churches available at katebowler.com/blessthislent or click the link in my bio.

Jan 10

Anyone else struggle with purpose anxiety? @elizabeth_gilbert_writer nails this one on the head.Click on the link in my bio to listen to our full conversation.

Jan 6

Fragile? Dependent? In need of a friend? Don’t be so hard on yourself. You sound entirely like a *human* to me.

Jan 5

Is his name Tom Holland and is he a historian and did I conscript him into going to very odd off-road museums with me after knowing him for 15 minutes? I said “Do you want to go into the woods and look at weird things?” And did he answer by saying: “LET'S HISTORY!”
Yes to all of the above.

Jan 4

My friend and colleague, theologian Stanley Hauerwas is suspicious about people who need to believe that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. (Which is why I love him endlessly.) Instead, he says, "The ability to live well is the ability to live without explanation." 💥
So grateful for this community who lives on the other side of easy solutions. Where somehow, love and beauty and joy live too.
If you haven't listened to our conversation, you must. Search EVERYTHING HAPPENS wherever you get your podcasts or click the link in my bio.

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