I have written a lot about birth on this blog. God has used it like nothing else in my life as a metaphor for wholehearted surrender. In today’s podcast, I share a bit about birth, about surrendering hopes, surrendering regrets, surrendering fears, and ultimately surrendering our whole hearts to God. I hope this is an…
Tag: conversation
The Journaling Circle
Dear Friends, You are warmly invited to The Journaling Circle, a kindred gathering for inspiration and conversation over tea (or coffee or hot chocolate, etc.!) and open journals. We will be meeting on Zoom on the first and third Mondays in February, March, and April at 3:00 p.m. (EST) to venture into my course, Innermost…
Choosing a Life of Celebration (Podcast #20)
The choice is always before us: A life of desperation or a life of celebration. In today’s podcast, I invite you to celebrate your life and to celebrate with me as I look back over this incredible last year. I am truly overflowing with gratitude as I remember the love and faithfulness of God in…
A Place of Peace (The Sacred Everyday Retreats)
Dear friends, I have just rounded the corner on my 10th year of blogging. A decade literally flew by in a blur of having babies and raising children, recording albums, making thousands of meals, filling hundreds of journals, waking up at 4 a.m. to write and find my peace in the midst of all the…
Grief and the Path of Beauty
Let me start by saying I do not pretend to be an expert on grief, and I truly hope I never am an expert on grief. My life has been colored by it just enough for me to know that this is something that’s going to stay with me forever. And that it is worth…
Other People’s Houses
My daughters and I pulled in at Michelle’s house before she arrived. We knew we were welcome to go on in. By the time I wrangled with my couple of bags, the girls had already run inside. I entered the front door, set down my things, and walked into the kitchen. This picture is what…
The Reason I Write
I wash the dishes a lot. (((When I say a lot, I may mean world record.))) Lately I have been listening to podcasts while I clean the kitchen, and I cannot tell you how happy I am to be in a season where my mind is really awake, and I am learning new things. It…
Living Conversation
I love words. They are not perfect, because they aren’t really the things themselves: the word “chicken” is not a chicken, it is just some scribbled lines on paper. The word “angry” is not an emotion, it is just a symbol for the feeling. The word “fragrant” is not the actual smell of gardenias, it…
The Daily Turn #6: Scribble
Scribble Some thoughts can by typed with whole hands like hellos and how are yous the birth of a baby, the recipe for spice cake, the exchange of addresses, and the table of contents. Some thoughts can be typed with thumbs– abbreviations for you and tonight exclamations, commands NOW! HURRY!!! I’m here, plz call. But…
The Daily Turn #3: Practice
This is a poem that I started writing in my head while the girls and I were driving to the store. Rosie, age 5, was practicing the tin whistle, while Paloma, age 4, was just talking nonstop to no one in particular in the very back of the van. I only caught about 20% of…