A Book Reviewer’s Manifesto

September 3, 2014.Reading time 6 minutes.

I cannot post another crappy book review about another crappy Christian book! I simply. Can. Not. I hit the wall last night as I read the first six chapters of a book I’d agreed to look at. It’s about decisions. I thought it would be a faith-based take on this fantastic book by Chip and […]

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

September 2, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

Something that stands out to me as I watch US Open tennis is an attitude difference between the veteran players and the up & comers. The veterans lavishly compliment their opponents after a win, and even more so after a loss. They give credit where credit is due (and sometimes even where it isn’t.) I […]

In Praise of Going For It

August 29, 2014.Reading time 8 minutes.

My obsession with US Open Tennis continues. Last night Chris Evert’s comments about a few American up & comers who are on the down & out (Sloane Stephens in particular) stuck with me. She said: “Sometimes it seems like they’re afraid to put it all out there…to let it matter to them whether they win […]

Life and Death

August 12, 2014.Reading time 6 minutes.

I read the news of Robin Williams’ death last night about five minutes after Steve went to the hospital to see our friend George, who’d just been told he has only a brief time left to live. News like this reaches my head long before my heart and so I’ve been thinking a lot about […]

Bergie gets trained! (And I did, too)

April 29, 2014.Reading time 6 minutes.

We had Bergie’s first training session last night! It was great, and she was most delighted by the sudden proliferation of liver treats in our living room. The trainer, Nayiri, gave us language lessons to help us communicate with our sweet pup, tips for new behaviors to replace things that we don’t like, and detailed […]

Fear/Failure

April 23, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

I’m finding spiritual and professional guidance in unexpected places these days. On Saturday, I was reading the latest issue of Fast Company magazine (one of my favorites, despite my status as rather un-tech-savvy — great writing about what makes people tick bridges a whole lot of gaps for me). It includes a feature on Ed […]

Can You Be Happy On Purpose?

April 22, 2014.Reading time 2 minutes.

A friend of mine from high school (and middle/elementary school…which were the same school…small town) shared on Facebook today about how someone gave him grief about his negative posts, so he was going to be totally, emphatically HAPPY in his posts from that point on. What followed was a river of snarky joy, including an […]

To Awful to Watch

April 18, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

I wasn’t going to post (or think) about Good Friday this year, but then two things happened. First, we hired men with ladders and wire to trap and remove the squirrel that has been eating through our house. It was awful. I had to put a towel up over the window because I couldn’t watch. […]

Confession: Right Now I’m Bad at Sad

April 15, 2014.Reading time 3 minutes.

My friend Melody pointed out this morning on Facebook that this week marks both the anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing, and Holy Week…in other words, it’s time to revert to waterproof mascara. I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around these big things right now. I’m caught up in little things – joy […]

Resurrection

April 9, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

One of the surprising things about life with God is how often He lets things die. Dreams, relationships, careers, people. It’s like He’s utterly unfazed by death. The Bible preps us for this–all the talk about agrarian seasons, Jesus’ resurrection, the Apostle Paul reminding us in his letters that as we follow Jesus, the old […]