New Years is wrought with great plans. Plans to eat different. Act different. Save different. Be different. We want to believe that at the precipice of a new year we can become new versions of ourselves. We hope to change! Really! We do. But, then a few weeks in, we’re back. In the same routines. Same…
When the multitude of disciples welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago, they shouted, “Hosanna!” Hosanna — a word meaning “Save us.” In desperation for freedom from the oppression of their time, the people called out to Jesus, “Save us!” and were confident in his ability to do so. This Palm Sunday, for the second consecutive…
New Years is wrought with great plans. Plans to eat different. Act different. Save different. Be different. We want to believe that at the precipice of a new year we can become new versions of ourselves. We hope to change! Really! We do. But, then a few weeks in, we’re back. In the same routines. Same…
Sometimes what happens to you is not fair. It’s not fair that you got that diagnosis or that your mom isn’t here to show you the ropes or the insurance company refuses to cover that particular medicine you really need or you’re stuck between the impossible decision about whether or not to send your kid…
So it’s Saturday. WHO KNEW?! And Toban is using the power washer (classic mennonite stress-cleaning) and Zach is in a tree holding a bucket that, when last I checked, had a snake and a skink in it. Who he claims “are friends and knew each other already.” Great, great. Not entirely clear what garden snakes…
Fear is a terrible friend. Keeps us up at night. Seems to call at weird times. Doesn’t care if we are too busy or too sad. Prevents us from making any good decisions during the day. CONSTANTLY TALKS OVER US. What if? Have you heard? What about? Did you read this article? When we are…
When I was 5-years-old our family went on one of those gondolas up a mountain in British Columbia, Canada, and just as our cable car suspended over the deepest part of the valley below, it stopped moving. It swayed at first, and then all went still. Nobody spoke. Except for a little voice, (and yes…
When I was five, I played the cello for the first time in a music festival. Music festival is a strong word for the experience I had. Yes, there were lots of players and pieces and judges and carrying music stands on and off stages. But as far as I was concerned, there were only…
We don’t live in a culture of blessing. We live in a culture of #blessed. #Blessed is attached to anything from a birth announcement to a new boyfriend, a rental car upgrade to barely there bikini shots. But all it ends up being is a popularity contest where even the best of us can fall…
Do you sometimes find yourself looking at something made of letters and thinking, Hey! I’m not illiterate. I love using my eyes! Well do I have a treat for you. Every month we read a book together as a community and I wanted to introduce you to this month’s pick which is a classic. The…
“The apple never falls far from the tree.” So the saying goes as a way of explaining why children most often resemble their parents. It is usually people’s response when they learn I am a historian just as my father is a historian or that my son’s tongue spends 90% of its time outside of…
Most self-help books are quite confident about offering us advice on how to live our best life now by losing weight, gaining confidence, dealing with family issues, or hustling our businesses. Their remedies are “quick,” “never fail,” “bite-sized,” and “sassy. “Be a badass”, says one, “make some d*mn money already.” “Wake up to the miracle…
