March 2011

Lenten Reflections: Trying to Explain the Cross

For most of my adult Christian life, I've been trying to understand what happened on the cross. I used to give the stock Christian answer: "Jesus died on the cross for my sins." I still think that statement is true, but I've become less and less clear on exactly what it means. ...

What Does It Mean to Love Yourself?

I have a new post on her.meneutics, "Should Christians Use Self-Help Programs?" It begins:

We were staying with friends, and I was getting ready for the day in their daughter's bathroom. It was a typical tween-age space: cute stickers and sayings posted to the mirror, hair products ...

A Two-Year Old Teaches Me to Love Music

A few days ago, William held a stick up to his mouth and pretended to play.

"Are you playing the flute?" I asked.

"No, Mom. The piccolo." Of course.

Of everyone in the family, it's William who loves music. He runs to the front of the sanctuary at church so he can see the musicians. ...

Quote of the Week: Kathleen Norris on Time

"The often heard lament, ‘I have so little time,' gives the lie to the

delusion that the daily is of little significance."

–Kathleen Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries

What I’m Reading: Articles on genetics, depression, hospitals, and disability

These days, I spend a lot of time with my Iphone. When I'm nursing Marilee, I read. I have an app for the New York Times, the Atlantic, Time Magazine, Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Christianity Today, and the ESV Bible. Although I wish I had more time to offer my own thoughts ...

Is It Okay to Get Divorced?

I'm a happily married woman, but I've been thinking about divorce this week.

First, I wrote a piece for her.meneutics about Christian blogger Anne Jackson's divorce: "When Christians Get Divorced." (I'll post an excerpt below.) Then, I happened across an interview on Patheos ...

Do You Know What Quotidian Means? (And do you know how much it matters?)

I recently reread a book by Kathleen Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy, and Women's Work. Thankfully, she includes a definition of quotidian as an epigraph. It means pertaining to the every day, and my life is consumed by every day activities, especially with ...

The Quotidian in Community

I wrote this morning about Kathleen Norris' The Quotidian Mysteries. Part of Norris' point is that creative thoughts often arise in the mundane details of life. While folding laundry, an idea pops into her head for a poem, or she remembers that she wanted to write a friend ...

Happy Belated World Down Syndrome Day!

(First, a quick blog update: I'm sorry to have been MIA this week. Beliefnet was changing our blogging platform and they forgot to include me. It took a few days to figure out, but now I'm back…)

And here's what I had hoped to post on Monday:

March 21, or 3/21. It is snowing ...

Quote of the Week: Kathleen Norris on Human Wholeness

"I sense that striving for wholeness is, increasingly, a countercultural goal, as fragmented people make for better consumers…"

–Kathleen Norris, The Quotidian Mysteries

Lenten Reflections: Diapers and The Cross

"Everyone should try to spend intentional time with God every day. Except women with small children."

I was in college, listening to a sermon about friendship. But when the pastor gave women with small children an exception from "quiet times," I noticed. And I remembered.I'm ...

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