Speaking up
Poet Muriel Rukeyser concluded one of her powerful poems about women and art by writing these oft-quoted words: "What would happen in one woman told the truth about her life? The world would split open." [...]
Sabbath
I'm speaking on Sabbath next month, so I thought I'd take some notes on what Sabbath looks like at our house, with two teenagers. Fire, fierce and warming, glows in the worn brick fireplace in [...]
Seeing (and loving) the invisible
If you don’t know the suburbs, they can look homogenous, a never ending landscape of tract houses and strip malls. But behind what was designed to be safe and middle class and predictable is an [...]
Run the good race
On my 17-year-old daughter’s bedroom mirror, written in dry erase marker, I read, “Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead.” She posted this reminder when she returned from a [...]
book giveaway!
Last year was a busy writing year for me, so I have three books releasing in three months this fall! I worked on two collaborative projects, in addition to another book that I’ll tell you [...]
Deeper into the Word
A moving line in a worship chorus prays, "Chains be broken/ Lives be healed..." Another says, "Break my heart for what breaks yours..." Breaking of things that bind us will bring us freedom--but first, we [...]
Not a farm wife…
Just a helpful warning: the quickest way to poison your creativity and hush your voice is to wander into the miry clay of comparison. I'm blogging at Redbud Writers Guild today. Here's a taste of [...]
Is giving an “investment”?
Less than a year ago, my family and I gave away our old mini-van to a welfare mom with five little kids. Today, I got an email saying the van had been having trouble, and [...]
Blind spots
Going through my daily routine, I’m sometimes startled by the sudden noticing of things I’d somehow ignored. I’m blind to my own blind spots—I don’t know what I don’t know. But then, I peek through [...]
Telling our stories
Last night my 17-year-old daughter and I drove to Chicago’s west side. In East Garfield Park, one of the city’s grittier neighborhoods, we drive slow down Carroll Avenue. In the dusk, small children play in [...]