I’ve long used January 1st as the day I’m going to get my life together. New diet? Clean slate starts January 1st. Exercise plan? I’ll begin on the first of the year. Keep the Tupperware cabinet from throwing plastic containers at me every time I open it? Organization will commence on the first day of the…
spiritual disciplines
We Need Every Word
I talk to myself in the grocery store. It’s not a conscious habit, but it dawns on me occasionally that I’m mumbling when other shoppers give me strange looks or smirk a little as I pass by. But I can’t help it. When I’m shopping for groceries, my mind is focused on my list, my…
Rest is Obedience
I sat on a dock on the coast of Southern Maine alone with my thoughts. I held an ice cream cone in one hand and struggled to eat it before it melted down my wrist. The wind coming off the sea pulled at the baseball hat hiding my ratty hair. It was quiet save for…
Bible Reading Doesn’t Have to Be a Resolution
I didn’t read my Bible yesterday. That definitely wasn’t an intentional choice. My kids are home on winter break. I overslept. I had an 8 a.m. doctor’s appointment. It was one of those “perfect storm” situations that doesn’t happen often to someone like me who lives and dies by a schedule. But it did happen…
Daylight Saving and Spiritual Disciplines
I’ve long used January 1st as the day I’m going to get my life together. New diet? Clean slate starts January 1st. Exercise plan? I’ll begin on the first of the year. Keep the Tupperware cabinet from throwing plastic containers at me every time I open it? Organization will commence on the first day of the…
Bootstrapping is Folly
Many years ago, I visited a Sunday school class at a church where the conversation revolved around what the Christian life should look like. The consensus seemed to think that soldiering through life without acknowledging struggles or burdening other people was the right and noble way to follow Jesus. Stoically. Quietly. Solitarily. It was the…
Bend Me Toward the Light
Every Thursday, I water my indoor plants. I’ve got a fiddle-leaf fig tree (a plant well known for its finicky nature and a proclivity to simply die without warning) standing tall and proud by a window with southern exposure. I’ve noticed, though, that this little tree bends itself dramatically toward the window even though it’s…
You Can’t Measure the Most Important Things
I bought a watch last year to measure my steps and heartrate. I’m a generally a little resistant to trends and therefore usually late to them, but I felt like measuring my physical exertion would result in more of it, thus I bought a watch. Even so, I refused to spend more than $25 on…
Ordinary Sunday
“Church today,” I wrote in my journal early Sunday morning. “I could really use the fellowship. I’m feeling low.” I put down my pen. I hadn’t slept much. It was a relief to know I’d soon be among my church family, distracted from the interior concerns running through my mind. Better than distracted, I knew…
Prayer and Mental Margin
I took a walk this morning, my first since getting over Covid. It was brutally cold, but I couldn’t resist layering on some warm clothes to take a stroll through my neighborhood. Being cooped up for the last several weeks, I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the quiet of a morning walk. While shivering through…