Dear fellow human being, You have permission to rest. To walk outside and sit at the foot of a wild thing, and be ravished by it's ecstatic existence. Or to take a nap. Or read a book. Or just sit a spell and stare at nothing much, for a little while. You don't have to produce all the time. Or try to fix everything. You really can enjoy your life. If you're a sensitive person, this will feel strange. If you're constantly aware of the suffering in the world, you'll find it difficult to rest. You'll feel guilty that you can plant seeds, or water the garden out in the sunshine, while someone else is being oppressed. You will want to run around, relentlessly, trying to figure out how to save more people from harm. And if you're a "do-er" it will humble you to stop doing for [...]

Each of us walks around each day, with quite a bit going on inside our chests. We relentlessly criticize ourselves for the things we haven't managed well. (Our home, our marriage, our kids, our relationships, our work, our spiritual life, our finances....it's exhausting.) We have these pestering fears that go everywhere with us, and these regrets that linger long after the lights are out. We feel the daily demands of life pressing in, and the steady expectations of others. We wake up with maybe a smidgen of hope and open up the blinds to let the light in, but before we've gotten too far along in the day, we're already worn out. Somewhere, we have to find some peace and rest. We go looking for this in food and sports and sex and tv shows, in beverages and the beach--there [...]

The new year came in quietly for me. I wanted it to be that way. While the world rushed places and people got excited about new goals and achievements and began making lists and marking things off already, I decided to be still. I decided not to talk so much. I withdrew from social media a little bit so that I could fully enter in to what's right here in front of me. I decided to let my soul get some rest. I made art. Read lots of books to the kids. Sat with Brent on the couch at night and talked to him more. I organized the house a bit because there's this new me that likes everything to have a place. And I have these hopes that at the end of the day, each thing can find it's rest until we need it again. Getting there is so exhausting, though. That's okay. I'm learning to be okay a[...]

Hi, my friends, I wanted to tell you that here the next four or five weeks (till the end of January) this little place on the internet is gonna be quiet. I'm taking a break from social media so I can practice being still and listening to my Shepherd. I want to feel His love more this new coming year. I want to hear Him better. And obey Him. I want to walk closely with Him. I want to be filled up with Him. I think for me, that means I need to be a little more still. And a lot more quiet for now. This is how I will cease striving. And rest. I'm listening to good music. And drinking in the Word. And I'm praying. Did you know that I pray for you? Even though I'm making space for quiet and for God to speak to me, I want you to know that if you need anything, you can reach me her[...]

Here lately, I've been practicing a little solitude. And silence. I'm taking a month off of social media. I don't know that I've ever done that before. And Brent and I are taking a month off of our regular show watching activities during the week. We want to talk more. And pray more. Think more. Read more. Listen more. Really see each other, more. Sometimes you just have to shut down the screens in order to actually do that. Last night, we sat on the couch and talked about paint colors for the living room. We argued and laughed. Compared paint swatches and even changed our minds a couple times. It was good for us, just thinking and planning together. We would have missed that if both of us had our lap-tops on. Something is different without all the noise of Facebook and Twitte[...]

These northern winters, I've watched a lot of snow fall. I've sat for long amounts of time, just gazing up into the sky, seeing which way the snowflakes go. Did you know snowflakes don't fall straight down? Each one of them is born on the wind, so they tumble this way, at first, and then they swoop up and twirl around a bit, before wafting slowly, slowly down to their resting place. I read the whole book of Galatians this morning because I was so hungry for it and utterly captivated and it spoke to me a lot of following the Spirit. I learned once that being born of the Spirit is kindred to the ways of the wind. (John 3:8) You can't see the wind, where it comes from or where it's headed next, but you can hear the movements of the breeze. The way it lifts the branches and rustles thro[...]

Dear Jesus-follower, Whatever plans or goals you’ve set into place for this new year, I want to encourage you in this one thing. There is something that I hope you’ll move on up to the front on that list of “important things to do”, if you haven’t already. And that is this—take time to care for your soul. Now, I’m not a psychologist. Or a philosopher. Or a theologian. Or a preacher even. So, I can’t dissect it down and tell you precisely what your soul is. Or even the difference between your soul and your heart. But, from what I’ve gathered from God’s Word, I believe the soul is the deepest most vital part of our human self. Perhaps it’s the part that integrates our heart and our mind, our will and emotions and our body all together. Our heart and soul sort of go hand-in-ha[...]

Over the weekend, Brent and I took a rest. We loaded up the kids and took them to meet their Grandma and Grandpa. Then we gave them smooches and waved good-bye and got back in the van and had so much fun together—just the two of us. We ate good food that we didn’t have to cook and laughed a good deal at each other. In all the daily grind of things, I had forgotten how ridiculously funny Brent can be. Because when he comes home from work, it’s supper time and I can hardly hear him tell me about his day (or vice versa) over all the chaos. Like trying to get Hopey to stay in her chair and eat her food while Gideon explains the difference between steam engines and power trains and Samuel protests loudly that he’s through with his meat and taters and really needs his sippie cup. And I [...]

So, I'm kinda addicted to the internet machine. Because I really like Facebook. And email. And my favorite blogs. And there's always something entertaining on the Youtube device. And Pinterest is intriguing but then it always makes me really hungry. And angry. Because I never seem to have all those ingredients in my kitchen. And there's this thing I've noticed about myself. This thing that I do that I don't like when I notice myself doing it. I often come to the computer looking for love or fulfillment or something. I know that sounds strange, but do you know what I mean? Like, I click on my email box to see if there’s anything in there that will help me feel significant. And then I check my Facebook to see if someone has posted something that'll make me laugh or if enough people[...]