After a difficult morning in the city, I went to Woodland Gardens, parked my car, and walked a small path, turning circular through the little wooded area. Everything was dead except for a few patches of green, a few ivy vines stretching from the edge of the path to the sides of my feet. But there, along the path on the way back to the car, I saw a large log resting sideways, eyeing me, asking me to notice him... Read more
There’s a difficult truth I’ve been trying to swallow lately, and it is that this past year has been really difficult for friendships and relationships. Community certainly looks different in each season of life, but when the days are long and I can’t think of a friend to call when I need an extra hand– well, that’s a tough reality. It’s certainly not that there’s no one to love us, it’s just about the manifestation and availability of that love.... Read more
All I can say at the end of a long week is that I hope Your will was done. I hope good came from bad, holy from evil, life from broken. I hope somewhere that someone felt the sunlight sink deep into their bones, that those same rays of sun bolted back out of them and blessed their every neighbor. I hope that when Kingdom came this week, someone was paying attention, someone engaged with their humanity and Your perfection.... Read more
Today, it is quiet. I am the only one home, and the deep spirit part of me is asking for some real quiet. There are no Hallmark mini-series episodes today (I know, judge me). There is no music. I hear my pen mark the page and candle wicks flicker and cars rush past our complex outside. I am in bed with four books, and I will read and drink my coffee in the quiet, because my heart is asking me... Read more
Is it possible that God is just as macro as He is micro, just as infinite as He is closed-ended? He is who He is– limitless– but transforms Himself to be who I need Him to be right now, today. He may be mother and father and something totally other– all things to all people. He is not bound or restricted, held to our standard of what can be done and how many miracles are allowed– no. But He... Read more
God of Universe-Work, help us remember who we are. Remind us again how it was in the beginning, how dirt and blood and water formed us. We are undignified, humbly shackled to this kind earth. Remind us again who we are. Remind us that none of us holds enough royal blood to cast out a brother or deny a sister. Remind us that our charge is every widow and every orphan. And when those great days of politicking and presidential... Read more
A home is created when a living space is cultivated and cared for, treated with grace. And these places of peace are also often where people come together, where comfortable conversations happen, where stories seem to gather– walk around and notice photos from here or books from there or special keepsakes that hold an entire world inside them. And we come to realize that our homes are not our own, but the gathering place of all the life that we’ve seen and... Read more
“If you should happen to catch a glimpse of what really matters in life, regard it with care. Decorate it with flowers. Cover it with love. Hold it in the sunshine. Give it a little bit of time and attention. And when the world tries to push you forward, listen to your heart instead. Because if you don’t make time for what really matters, no one is going to do it for you…” –Rachel Macy Stafford Last Sunday, I was ordained as a... Read more
Hannah and I sat by the tall, narrow windows of the tea house and talked about forward movement, future things, and what she might want to be when she grows up. –we are all forever growing up, aren’t we? When we’re young we are asked that question: What will you be one day? And if you notice, some of those younger kids, they’ll spout off ten things at once. An astronaut. A dancer. A mom. A dad. A nurse. A trash... Read more
We keep talking about what we’ll do for New Year’s Eve, and this morning I woke up and it was already here. What will we do for this new year celebration? The boys will go to bed like normal, because their own mother can hardly make it to midnight any night of the year– but tonight, I’ll certainly try. To be honest, the New Year’s celebration is a bit odd to me, because my year starts over when the leaves... Read more
Stories - with Kaitlin B. Curtice
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