Childhood
Love’s Mystery Deeper Than Memory
Bundled against the freezing weather, I pushed the stroller down the sidewalk. Baby napping inside, coffee in hand, a book balanced on the bar, and the big kids off on a bike ride with Jeff. This little routine had become a beloved ritual in the chaos and isolation of quarantine. But today was different. The…
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Carrying Our Homes
She bounds down the concrete steps in her almost-two-year-old glory: wearing a backward t-shirt with the tag jutting out below her chin and a bright pink tutu over her pants. Her ponytail has migrated to the side of her head, sprouting like a horizontal palm tree. Thanks to the unsolicited comment from a neighbor tinkering…
READ MORE
how to pray lectio divina with kids
Want to pray lectio divina with your kids? I had never heard of lectio divina until I started graduate theological studies. Thankfully I was blessed to study with the Benedictines, who are steeped in this prayer practice (which St. Benedict wrote about in his Rule dating back to 500 AD). So I learned from wise sisters and brothers how…
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a prayer for a new school year
Here is a prayer for all of us in the midst of transition: to a new season, a new schedule, or a new school year. A prayer to God who guides us all. You are Alpha and Omega. Bless the end of our summer and the beginning of our fall. You are Abba…
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A Prayer for the Sleep-Deprived
I am tired. How about you? I am tired all the time. I’m tired of talking about how tired I am. I know I was tired before I had kids – tired from college, tired from grad school, tired from work. But since my first child was born, I have been weary to my bones. This is the happy…
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eat, pray, light, bless: celebrate a baptism anniversary
Our sweet babe just celebrated his first baptism anniversary. One trip around the sun, one whole year a Christian. It’s a big milestone in our family. I’ve written about baptism anniversaries here and here, too. But I always find that these days sneak under the radar, despite circling the dates on the calendar and trying…
READ MORE
i sing it for you
I roared at them tonight. And when I say roared, I mean bellowed from the very core of my being – the tired, angry, frustrated, exasperated, unheard and unnoticed depths of my body and soul, from which I was completely and utterly and maddeningly sick of having asked, cajoled, coaxed, pleaded, begged, demanded, and commanded them…
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Morning Prayer Matters: Easy Ways to Start Your Day
Here are 4 simple ways to start the day with God as a parent: A prayer from childhood Growing up a mile from our small-town Catholic school, we always had just enough time on the drive each morning for my mom to make us pray (ok, sometimes to a chorus of groans) her classic, quick…
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this is church right now
Five minutes late (aren’t we always these days). Smudged nametags, courtesy of Crayola markers. Pile of coats on the end of the pew (will it ever be spring?). Loud whispers requesting books as soon as the lector starts to read. Why can’t we sing that psalm again – I like that one. Puzzle pieces scattered on…
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sacrament, interrupted
I jostle one boy on my hip and nudge the other a step closer to the front of the line. Herding cats, I think as he wanders into the neighboring line of communion-goers. Using my one free hand I gently guide him back by the shoulder and whisper in his ear about trying to stay…
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for the mornings we yell
For the mornings we wake up determined to make it a better day, and then we don’t – For the times we promise to soak up the sweetness of these fleeting years, and then we wish them away – For the days we want to fill with laughter and song, and then they’re darkened by bad…
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seeing stars in sunlight
“The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision…He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (from…
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Bundled against the freezing weather, I pushed the stroller down the sidewalk. Baby napping inside, coffee in hand, a book balanced on the bar, and the big kids off on a bike ride with Jeff. This little routine had become a beloved ritual in the chaos and isolation of quarantine. But today was different. The…
READ MORE
She bounds down the concrete steps in her almost-two-year-old glory: wearing a backward t-shirt with the tag jutting out below her chin and a bright pink tutu over her pants. Her ponytail has migrated to the side of her head, sprouting like a horizontal palm tree. Thanks to the unsolicited comment from a neighbor tinkering…
READ MORE
Want to pray lectio divina with your kids? I had never heard of lectio divina until I started graduate theological studies. Thankfully I was blessed to study with the Benedictines, who are steeped in this prayer practice (which St. Benedict wrote about in his Rule dating back to 500 AD). So I learned from wise sisters and brothers how…
READ MORE
Here is a prayer for all of us in the midst of transition: to a new season, a new schedule, or a new school year. A prayer to God who guides us all. You are Alpha and Omega. Bless the end of our summer and the beginning of our fall. You are Abba…
READ MORE
I am tired. How about you? I am tired all the time. I’m tired of talking about how tired I am. I know I was tired before I had kids – tired from college, tired from grad school, tired from work. But since my first child was born, I have been weary to my bones. This is the happy…
READ MORE
Our sweet babe just celebrated his first baptism anniversary. One trip around the sun, one whole year a Christian. It’s a big milestone in our family. I’ve written about baptism anniversaries here and here, too. But I always find that these days sneak under the radar, despite circling the dates on the calendar and trying…
READ MORE
I roared at them tonight. And when I say roared, I mean bellowed from the very core of my being – the tired, angry, frustrated, exasperated, unheard and unnoticed depths of my body and soul, from which I was completely and utterly and maddeningly sick of having asked, cajoled, coaxed, pleaded, begged, demanded, and commanded them…
READ MORE
Here are 4 simple ways to start the day with God as a parent: A prayer from childhood Growing up a mile from our small-town Catholic school, we always had just enough time on the drive each morning for my mom to make us pray (ok, sometimes to a chorus of groans) her classic, quick…
READ MORE
Five minutes late (aren’t we always these days). Smudged nametags, courtesy of Crayola markers. Pile of coats on the end of the pew (will it ever be spring?). Loud whispers requesting books as soon as the lector starts to read. Why can’t we sing that psalm again – I like that one. Puzzle pieces scattered on…
READ MORE
I jostle one boy on my hip and nudge the other a step closer to the front of the line. Herding cats, I think as he wanders into the neighboring line of communion-goers. Using my one free hand I gently guide him back by the shoulder and whisper in his ear about trying to stay…
READ MORE
For the mornings we wake up determined to make it a better day, and then we don’t – For the times we promise to soak up the sweetness of these fleeting years, and then we wish them away – For the days we want to fill with laughter and song, and then they’re darkened by bad…
READ MORE
“The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision…He brought him outside and said, ‘Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (from…
READ MORE