Growth
Whose (by)line is it, anyway?
It was mine. All mine.
As a ghost writer, I don’t get the byline in the publication. And I’m okay with that: I do the writing, but the client is the subject-matter expert without whom I couldn’t write the article. Last week, however, I had been offered the byline for an article to be published in a nationally recognized magazine whose publication reaches 40,000 people. This is an uncommon honor for a ghost writer, and I was tickled pink.
The editor asked for my headshot; I sent it. My bio was requested; I submitted it. The writing was done, shipped off for publication. Read More
You, Me and Mona
My fair skin has been ravaged by sun damage: I’m wrinkled beyond my years and scarred from removing multiple Basal Cell cancer lesions. My brown mop has enough gray hairs in it that nobody can mistake them for ‘highlights’ anymore. My teeth are anything but brilliant white. I’m over 40 and overweight.
And sometimes all of that undermines my confidence, when surrounded by the features of my slender, tanned or blond female peers. Our society values those physical attributes more than the ones God gave me genetically. In today’s American culture, the ones I posses are not regarded as beautiful. Read More
Unbiased Ears
“The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”
— John 10:3b, 4 ESV
It’s right there in the text, as plain as day.
But it’s easy to miss.
This passage of scripture is subtitled “I am the Good Shepherd” in our Bibles (though subtitles aren’t in John’s manuscript). As westerners, the subtitle conjures an image of a man cresting a grassy, green hill with his staff in hand, prodding the sheep along from behind the flock. Perhaps dogs are chasing the wooly creatures to keep them from falling into harm’s way as well.
And yet, that’s not at all what the verse says. Read More
Travels of the Heart
This week my family has enjoyed the sweet blessing of a trip to our previous hometown. Travel along with me momentarily as I reflect on the life lessons that come from this scenery Sabbath? (If you’re looking for something a little more ‘meaty’ today, check out this archived post, Superlatives.)
- My kids frequently remarked that things loomed large in their memory yet were significantly smaller in present day. Read More
Memory Upgrade: Foreheads, Hands and Doorposts
Please tell me I’m not alone. It happens to me at least daily:
I might be standing in the kitchen when I realize I need to close the window in my child’s room before the morning air wafting through the house gets too hot. Making my way around the corner, I climb the stairs. I reach the top and when I find myself at the end of the hallway, I cannot – for the life of me – remember why I’m there. The sheer number of purposeless trips I make upstairs each day could almost justify eating an entire bag of Peanut Butter M&M’s. Almost. Read More