I've been in my share of parades. Probably more than my share, actually. Marching band parades, down the main street and next to the fire station of my home town, ringing in the glorious mark of Memorial Day. (You have to love a town that has a Memorial Day Parade.) Halloween parades with a whole […]
I had spent a couple of years without a place to call home on Sunday mornings. There were no real reasons, I guess, but one week at home had turned into a few weeks, then into a few months, into a straight-up sabbatical from Sunday morning routines. Church and me: we were on a break. […]
For a brief season of their childhood, my boys gave gymnastics a try. In retrospect, I think they were more interested in learning fancy trampoline tricks, but nonetheless, for a few months I spent many an afternoon in the tumbling gym. My mind wandered while my boys were flipping and flying with the one class […]
I have been thinking of the words, "Let every heart prepare him room." As we prepare our homes, decorate our trees, hang our lights, frost our cookies, and prepare our feasts, we are preparing room. We are making space to remember: something amazing happened. They waited for him then, and we wait for him now. […]
My husband (Peter) and I have two vastly different stories of faith miracles. He begged and pleaded with God from a desperate place in a jail cell, and God told him yes. The miracle is that he was set free. I begged and pleaded with God from a desperate place on my bedroom floor as […]
I feel like I don't know how to do Good Friday well enough. It feels like when I love someone so much that I want to celebrate them so big, but nothing seems big enough to match the crazy affections of my heart, so I do almost nothing because I am paralyzed to do anything. […]
Our Father, Father to all of us and each of us, Of those who violently stormed our nation's capitol yesterday And those who watched in horror from our homes, Staring in disbelief in fear While people broke windows and stormed hallways; You are Lord above all of this and in all of this. Hallowed be […]
I remember when each of my boys was born, the sweet relief of holding them, meeting them, beginning this new adventure with them. But I also recall the complicated emotions of sharing them now with other people. For so many months, my baby had been mine alone. Only I knew his movements, his stirrings, his […]
Sometimes I like to pretend like I’m having coffee with you. This is one of those times.
Every night, we have ice cream at 8:00. And some evenings, we have it at other times, because it's 8:00 somewhere. We are living it up in our locked up condition. Last night, before our evening constitution, Peter brought us all together at the dining room table. There were four cups of fruit punch and […]
Don't you love when a great podcast pops up in your feed? My friends Juli and Hannah invited me to join them on Authentic Intimacy waaaay back in December. (Hannah was even wearing the most charming Christmas sweater on the day of our dialogue.) But it's crazy how the conversation from so many weeks ago […]
Parents of Preschoolers and Toddlers, this season is the real deal, isn't it? You are in the t-r-e-n-c-h-e-s. When my guys were preschoolers, I had to have them out the door by 9:00am, or the house would surely crumble around us. I was sure of it, and my theory was fairly proven. And now, this […]
We were in those few days after Thanksgiving, when the world seems to take a few days off work to indulge in eating, sleeping, and some very glorious spending. We are all stuffed with turkey and potatoes, we are eating pies for breakfast, and we are putting leftovers on sandwiches we would never dream of […]
"Tricia, how can I stop living in fear? I'm worried that something will happen to the person I love. How can I keep this fear from paralyzing me?" This question, it's so pure, honest, true, and real. How can I keep from being afraid all the time? Here's what I said to this person who […]
Probably one of my favorite people in the Bible is the persistent widow. I can’t wait to meet her. I do realize there’s a chance she’s not a real person since she was a character in one of Jesus’ stories, but still. I like her. In the parable that tells her story, we don’t get […]
Once upon a time, I accidentally attended a Buddhist retreat. It was actually a writer’s retreat, but the instructor was a practicing Buddhist, so the retreat carried some strong Eastern influence. I’m not Buddhist, and some might say it was unwise and even dangerous to subject myself to the practices of a faith so different […]
Sometimes it’s fitting to revisit the best truths. Today seems like a day for the best and the truths. This story is three years old, and it still holds my entire heart. * * * * Tyler learned to ride his bike this week. I thought he already knew how. I thought we did this […]
When I sat down at the table for two - a little smaller than I prefer, even though I was a party of exactly one with a lot of book-related accoutrements - I almost didn't open my Bible. It's part of my morning routine when I am at home, and it's the center (and the […]
Good Friday. It's the day of sadness and loss. If your heart is broken, this day may be far more relatable than Sunday. There are many of you whom I am carrying in my heart, those grieving the loss of a person, a promise, a dream, an idea, a hope. You're the ones left behind […]
I love the smell of gasoline, and I am somehow fond of fresh cigarette smoke. I've always felt like I shouldn't like those, like they are guilty pleasures. But I think both of those scents remind me of different grandparents for different reasons, and that makes me neither guilty nor sorry. It makes me want […]
