To be honest, I tripped over the first few words of this quote by Emerson before I embraced the rest of the truth. While I agree with him that we all want to be inspired to be who we can be, I’m not so certain that’s our “chief want.” I want a lot of things. I need a lot of …
In Others’ Words: Contented with Little
I’ve come across the same Scripture verse again and again in recent days: “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin …” Zephaniah 4:10 NLT As a matter of fact, I ran into the words so many times, I made a graphic of it: I pay attention when God repeats Himself. I’m in …
In Others’ Words: Diamonds in the Rough
Sometimes we overlook things of value. We may hold the roughest of diamonds in our hands and, not seeing its worth, toss it to the ground like pebble. Diamonds in the rough come in all forms. They can be: a person we meet who causes us grief or who we don’t understand or particularly like. an experience that we’re forced …
In Others’ Words: From Here to Eternity
I’ve mulled over Thomas Merton’s words for several days now. “Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.” I usually stay away from generalizations like that — careful not to use words like “every” and “all” in statements. But I don’t believe Merton is overstating the truth here. I think we overlook …
In Others’ Words: Life Anchors
“You have to be careful what you anchor your emotions to.” I was talking to a friend a few weeks ago when those words came out of my mouth. She looked at me and said, “That’s a blog post!” And I’ve been mulling what I said ever since then — about how I need to be careful what I …
In Others’ Words: What Each New Day Brings
I’m writing this blog post in a hotel room in Minnesota. A rerun of Iron Chef is on the TV. My husband and daughter are discussing our plans for tomorrow — a college visit and then flying home to Colorado. When I’m done with this blog post, I need to pack. And I’m tired. Of course, I have good reasons …
In Others’ Words: The Power of Sister Relationships (and GIVEAWAY)
There’s so much I could say … so much I want to say in today’s blog post. And yet I weigh my words. Mindful of my word count. Mindful of so much more. My debut women’s fiction novel, Things I Never Told You, releases today. It’s a Little Women gone wrong story about the Thatcher sisters: Johanna, Jillian, and …
In Others’ Words: Eliminate Hurry
I almost … almost made this a one word blog post. The one word would have been “How?” How do we “Ruthlessly eliminate hurry”? Dallas Willard’s statement is grand — Stop hurrying — and show no mercy toward anything that stands in your way of slowing down! — but let’s be honest with one another. Eliminating hurry from our lives …
In Others’ Words: Imagination Will Take You Everywhere
There was a time when I tried desperately to come up with a new story idea. As the saying goes, I had nothing. I played the writer’s “what if?” mind game while I drove around town. While I moved laundry from the washer to the dryer to the laundry basket. While I grocery shopped. While I loaded the dishwasher. While …
In Others’ Words: Repeating Good
Have you ever gotten an irritating song stuck in your head? You hear it over and over again … Yeah, that kind of repeat is not a good thing. But there are times when a certain song uplifts my mood or touches my heart or even inspires me as I write. And I pull the song up on Spotify …