Austin and I just got back from traipsing around Charleston for two days. I had never visited, and having celebrated our five year anniversary only a month ago, we relished the opportunity to eat our way through the city. Charleston is beautiful. It is a city of coordinated historic buildings, and mauve (my new favorite
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The Good of Hard Work and Housework
I scanned the isle of colorful cleaning supplies intensely. My eyes fluttered from a bright purple brand promising that, with its help, I would clean my bathroom half as often and in half the time, to the neon yellow bottle boasting large bubble letters that read “For an EFFORTLESS clean.” And I sighed. This is
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Pulling Up the Tent Pegs
I woke this morning to a living room I did not recognize. It was a skeleton of what I had grown accustomed to. Nothing was as it should be, nothing was where it should have been. Everything about our living room in the brightness of the morning was different, and it took me a few
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On Getting Older (Or: Preparing for Rest)
I held the hot washcloth to my face just a moment longer. Particularly pressing around my eyes, I took a deep breath and let the humid air fill my nostrils and lungs. I took a look in the mirror to find where the remnants of the day’s makeup had left its mark. (Everywhere. The answer
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Good Friday: An Invitation to Grieve
We have come to Good Friday. If you are anything like me, Good Friday is often overlooked in the midst of Easter preparations. Good Friday more marks the beginning of Easter weekend than a day dedicated unto itself. I did not grow up noticing Good Friday; my church did not have a Good Friday service,
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The Lord’s Supper: From Egypt to Easter
I hold the plate delicately. It feels light in my hands, and yet bears an unspoken weight. I turn it carefully in my hand, intentional to make it accessible to all who approach. “This is body of Christ,” I say with familiarity and resonance. “It is broken for you.” The words fall familiar on our
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The Discipline of Rest
I got my efficiency from my mother. Laura: a former nurse, mother of nine, force to be reckoned with. When I was very young, I thought she was a superhero; when I entered adulthood, I was proven right. This woman can homeschool her young ones, drive multiple carpools, answer all of our medical questions, text
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Prayers
Redeeming the Tongue
Our dear Father, We are a people of scathing tongues. We bite, we devour, and we hate our brother. Too quick, we are, to sputter from our lips without care or caution endlessly destructive words. What is more – what is worse – is the way we carefully sweeten the poison on our lips. Even
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Prayers
A Prayer to be Small Ones
You are the God of that land we have not seen, and the God of this one we can. You are the Maker of every square inch, those we have discovered and those we never will. You are the God of history, of ages, outside of time, and it was Your imagination that crafted seconds,