Essays
-
Follow Your Heart: Good or Bad Advice?
I grew up in the 1990s, the heyday of Disney princesses, love stories with happy endings, and the self-esteem movement. I’m almost certain I owned a t-shirt that said “Flower Power” on the front in big, bold letters, and I wore jelly sandals during the hot summer months. I loved figure skating and inspirational stories–remember Chicken Soup for the Soul? And then Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul? One of the most popular phrases of the 1990s was “follow your heart,” an outpouring of the feel-good culture in which I was raised. As a young person, I didn’t take any issues with this idea. To me, “follow your heart” meant…
-
The Cozy Season
This post was written by my friend, Danielle Roberts. Danielle and I knew each other back in high school, and recently reconnected after discovering that we had attended the same church for a while, just at different services. Danielle is a wife and mom of 4. She helps burntout mom business owners make room for rest through productivity. She is the host of the podcast Created for This and author of the Christian devotional of the same name. She and her family love to travel, be outdoors in beautiful Wisconsin, and curl up with a good book. You can connect with her on Instagram @danielle.m.roberts. By the way, I wrote…
-
On Getting Bored with the Internet
Something has been gnawing at me the last couple weeks. For years, I’ve followed Tim Challies’ website. I really enjoy his “A La Carte” posts, in which he shares articles from around the internet that he’s read and appreciated. Usually when I check out his “A La Carte” posts, I find at least a couple articles that interest me as well. Lately, however, I haven’t been able to find any. I’ve increasingly felt like I’ve read them all before, even though they’re labeled ‘new.’ The internet, in general, doesn’t seem to be holding my attention like it used to (except Facebook, which drives me crazy). I’ve seen it all before,…
-
Listening to Myself Sing
This week, I have two posts set to publish on Wednesday and Saturday. How exciting–two posts in one week! Both posts are on the same topic, but one is an essay and one is a poem. I hope they both encourage you to take your thoughts captive to Christ and to worship God in a way that honors him. Today’s post is an essay. *** One of the first lessons you learn when you join a choir is to listen to the people around you sing instead of listening to yourself. In fact, I teach my students the very same thing. When I notice one student singing louder than the…
-
The Church’s One Foundation
This is a guest post from my husband, Brian. Brian works casual call as a nurse and does the majority of the work involved in taking care of our land and animals. In his free time, Brian enjoys planting trees, building things (like this incredible chicken coop), and singing hymns. We’ve been married for 14 years, and I’m happy to call him my husband. *** Though with a scornful wonder men see her sore oppressed,By schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed,Yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, “How long?”And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song. One of the things I really appreciate…
