Posts on Hope & Encouragement:
Unanswerable Questions
It seems that we are endlessly confronted with realities that confound, enrage, and incense. We sift through their...
The Devastation of Hope
Last week I watched someone I love ascend into the heights of joy only to descend into its complete opposite. All...
Treasuring All that is Precious
As I write this (early January, 2023), I am in Toronto at the home of my dear friend, Tanya Geisler. I was scheduled...
Living from a Softer Place
For as grateful (and amazed) as I am that I've completed my book, it is an incredibly odd thing to place it in someone...
My Struggle with Envy
A few weeks back, in the midst of my morning writing/journaling, I reflected on a snippet of my behavior. Something...
About South Stars
I was talking with a client a few weeks back who can honestly and confidently state that she is strong and powerful...
Letting go of what no longer serves
A few weeks back I posted a quote from Adam Grant’s book, Think Again on IG and FB: “. . . let go of the knowledge and...
I am NOT the Crazy One!
No big surprise: I love books! A ton of them are on my Kindle and most of the time I’m good with reading the “virtual”...
Learning to Trust Your Heart
Growing up, I learned that the only voices I was to trust were those outside of me. Parents. My elders. Pastors....
If I had a Book Group
I ordered a book a few weeks back, but have basically avoided it since it arrived. Well, until a couple morning’s ago...
“I’m so proud of you!”
I have had conversations with clients in past weeks where a sense of self-pride showed up . . . and then was...
For Days of Self-Loathing
I came across a poem a few weeks back by Nikita Gill. The corner of the page was folded down — evidence that I’d read...
Letting go of happy endings . . .
I've been ensconced in fiction lately. There is a LOT to be said for getting lost in the pages of a book, stepping...
1000 Words on Aging
Being 61 is not what I expected…though I don’t know that I could tell you, with any degree of specificity, what I did...
About Time
I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately; struggling with it in some ways. And oddly, it’s not because I don’t have...
About Being an Outlaw
Yes, about being an outlaw...but also archetypes and exhaustion and self-care and then some. The dictionary defines an...
What Matters in a Broken World?
I’ve been sitting with a particular question lately that haunts me, in many ways: How are we to make sense of our...
About angels in black tights…and signs…
This post is about signs. Looking for them. Spotting them. Trusting them. ‘Seems right to start things off with a sign...
3 Ways to Step into Gratitude
There’s a very old Hebrew Psalm that’s been circling in my mind lately. It’s an ancient prayer that is...
What if your spirituality was easy?
I would not use the word “easy” or “ease” to describe my experience of being a spiritual person (at least in the first...
About my recent book-proposal rejection
A month or so ago I got a rejection letter from the publishing company to whom I sent my book proposal. To be fair,...
3 ways to be fear-defying in writing and life
When I look back over 17 years of blogging, here’s what stands out to me: My voice has fluctuated, depending on the...
On hope (via Emily Dickinson)
I have always loved these stanzas by Emily Dickinson: Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soulAnd sings...
Does it feel costly to be yourself?
Let's be honest: it does feel costly to be ourselves. Maybe not all of the time, but certainly in some relationships,...
See yourself as a miracle
When I was 8 or 9, my newborn sister went into the hospital. I don’t remember the details. I don’t remember ever...
A 3-Step Plan Worth Following
I lived a very long season of my life (decades, really) in which I was endlessly on the hunt to find a plan that would...
Remember Who You Are
I talk about sovereignty all the time. It’s a program I offer. But more than all else, it’s a reality, a truth, that I...
No imagination required…
There’s a story I love to tell of a mostly unknown woman named Jael. She singlehandedly won a huge battle for a whole...
The struggle that IS worthwhile
I love Leo Tolstoy’s opening line in Anna Karenina: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in...
Write Toward Vulnerability
If something inside of you is real, we will probably find it interesting, and it will probably be universal. So you...
Belief: Then & Now
There was a time in which any question about what I believed merited a simple, obvious, and expected answer. After...
Sit still. Be quiet. Feel.
Now that both of my girls live miles, states, and flights away from me, I find myself transitioning into what it means...
6 Ways to Access Your Inner Wisdom
It’s taken me a lifetime to learn that I can trust myself and my own knowing instead of needing to rely on external...
Steps that count vs. counting steps
I have an Apple Watch that I rarely wear. It enables me to count my steps which, on good days, encourages me, but on...
Non-existent, but no less real (February 29)
My father died a year ago today. No, that’s not quite right. He died on February 29, 2020. That day doesn’t exist this...
Refrigerator-Magnet Wisdom
Last month I was in a bookstore in Lexington, KY with both of my daughters. We wandered in three different directions,...
Choose life – and life – and life
There is an ancient story told of a woman who did not waver when the situation demanded swift (and brilliant) action....
Go Deeper Still, Still…
(I first published this post on 12/31/14. It seems to me to be as relevant as ever.) Go deeper still... You already...
My grown-up Christmas list:
One of my favorite Christmas carols by Amy Grant, offers these lyrics: “No more lives torn apart, That wars would...
If we could have coffee together…
If you and I were sitting across from each other, sipping coffee, it would be inevitable that eventually I would tell...
She was a voice
I ordered and read The Book of Longings last week. Written by Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees and...
Militancy + Hope + Desire
(A Sunday Sermon, of sorts - even though it's not a Sunday...) To refuse to participate in the shaping of our future...
The shadows are not our home
We wake up each morning and watch the world around us burn. We see corruption, scandal, and the decimation of...
A shocking event (with some context)
A Sunday sermon, of sorts, that I hadn’t planned to write... You know those movies that start with a shocking event?...
The you you know best
Who would you be if you didn’t hold back? If all your power, compassion, love, and strength roared into any room, any...
Redefining Ordinary
The desire, temptation, and lure to live an extraordinary life is strong; to figure out our “one thing;” to do,...
As 2019 begins…
To hope is to gamble. It’s to bet on your futures, on your desires, on the possibility that an open heart and...
The Women at the Tomb
All we have are the stories, based on the unreasonable experience of people we never knew–and the choice of whether to...
A story about (in)visibility
Women: you are not unseen, unheard, or invisible! Ever! Do you ever feel as though you (and other women) are unseen,...
3 Verses and a Refrain
Verse #1: There is good news. Nothing about you is broken. Nothing about you is wrong. Nothing about you needs fixing...
4 Takeaways that Matter
I spend countless hours in the midst of the ancient, sacred stories of women - wanting and wondering how to tell them,...
What I need you to remember:
We are desperate to see ourselves in powerful and empowering ways. It’s no wonder: we have too-often and for too long...
Do the Next Thing
I don’t know about you, but when I read or hear the stories of amazing women (which is ALL the time), I have the...
I’m right about this…
Chances are pretty high that if your desire is strong enough, acute enough, and impossible to dissuade, others will...
No Fairy Godmother
There’s a story I love to tell of a mostly unknown woman who singlehandedly won a huge battle for an entire tribe of...
There is nothing you need to figure out
I see the tears behind your eyes. I know about that lump in your throat. I hear the thoughts that swirl in your mind –...
Before Mother’s Day
With Mother’s Day less than a week away, it feels appropriate to name and honor our larger, longer mother-line: the...
When Things Don’t Go as Planned
I’ve been thinking a lot, even more than I normally do, about my daughters. About the trials and tribulations that, by...
Before Valentine’s Day
I have an ambivalent relationship with Valentine’s Day. When young(er), I wished and prayed that I would have a...
Magical Thinking
Many of us wait around or secretly hope that something magical will happen. If I’m lucky enough, patient enough, good...
The deep and ever-present wisdom…
HEARING VOICES We all have at least one – often a legion of them. They speak when we least want them to. They show up...
My Empty Nest
I can hardly believe the title of this post, the truth and heft of just three small words, the fact that they actually...
My Heart (Monitor)
I am hooked up to a heart monitor right now. It’s mobile – just four electrodes connected to various and particular...
God on a Woman’s Terms
For most of us, the word "sacred" conjures some thought of God. Perhaps you associate this with a positive set of...
The Scaffolding Around My Heart
Today is Abby’s last day of high school. I just finished packing her last school lunch – ever; my last school lunch –...
Holes. Gaps. Cracks. Miracles. Light.
When you write you have to attempt something greater than you can possibly hope to accomplish. That is the only way...
Why do you write?
"Why do you write?" was a question recently asked of me. Here’s my answer: I write because it is the space in which I...
Nevertheless, we persist!
On Tuesday, February 7, 2017, Senator Elizabeth Warren began to read a letter Coretta Scott King wrote in 1986 that...
For now. Not forever.
I have felt more like a passive observer, than riled-up revolutionary since Donald Trump became president. Yes, I...
Goodbye, Twitter
I cancelled and closed my Twitter account last week. I’m almost hesitant to mention it; it was so undramatic But...
January 1, 2017
What dreams lie dormant hidden in the womb of your soul, quietly waiting, incubating seeking opportunity to come...
Yes, yesterday. Now what?
Yesterday, November 9, 2016, I did all the things I always do: I made coffee. I journaled. I gave my daughter a hug...
November 9, 2016
I woke up this morning to news I did not expect and cannot believe: Donald Trump has won the presidential election....
About Fall, Writing, and Letting Go
Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape...
My Three-Graces Season
I went in search of Renaissance art today, remembering that there was a particular period in which women’s bodies were...
A story for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day used to be the hardest day of the year for me – when lost in the throes of infertility. That is no longer...
Is beauty worth $8 + tax?
As I sat down to journal this morning, I spotted the fresh tulips I bought just four days ago. They are already...
On Miracles
I made a video a few days back in which I talked of Tabitha. Little known. Rarely told. Hugely significant. (This...
Remember who you are (x3)
We are desperate to see ourselves in powerful and empowering ways. It’s no wonder: we have too-often and for too long...
Letting Go and Holding On
Living through years of infertility taught me an invaluable lesson. And truth-be-told, I continue to learn it just as,...
A woman’s heart = experiencing God
From the beginning of time we have been asking questions about the Divine. The form, complexity, and context of the...
When Darkness Threatens
But a grave separateness has invaded the world... ~ Naomi Shihab Nye It is said that in the beginning, darkness...
Chasing Rainbows
The night I saw THE rainbow was the culmination of another out-of-town weekend. I was in my 20’s (a very long time...
A freewrite on faith
There have been times in which my own writing has taken me to places of surprise, insight, and even tears. Some...
I am not shocked by you.
There’s a story I love to tell of a mostly unknown woman who singlehandedly won a huge battle for a whole tribe of...
About My HUGE Celebration!
About four weeks ago, I posted a picture on Facebook of a glass of champagne, hinting that I had something to...
The Stunning Story that is Yours
I see the tears behind your eyes. I know about the lump in your throat. I hear the thoughts that swirl in your mind....
In the midst . . .
Here is what I know about you: Right now, in the midst, you embody the Feminine. Right now, in the midst, you inhale...
Tipping the Scales (finally!)
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads...
About rain and tears and grief
My desk sits in front of two windows that look out on stark trees. For now, there are no leaves in sight. And the rain...
Chances are…
Chances are pretty high that if your desire is strong enough, acute enough, and impossible to dissuade, others will...
Go Deeper Still
You already know this: there is profound beauty and wisdom that lies in wait – deep within you. When you listen, when...
Head acknowledged. Heart aflame.
Something within you knows that you bring a seeing, a knowing, a perspective to this world that, once expressed, might...
Sophia and Quantum Physics
I had to figure out how to find Sophia. Or make the space for her to find me. One day I came to realize that she’s...
Believing in Another World
The debate is long, old, and exhausting. Is there life beyond ours, in other places, on other planes or planets. Is...
TRUTH is a warrior
I’ve spent the last few days at a beautiful, private, and extremely quiet place. I’ve spent a lot of time looking out...
Hope is . . .
. . . the singular gift we cannot destroy in ourselves,the argument that refutes death,the genius that invents the...
On a Wire
Early in the morning I sat on the couch, my laptop awaiting the click-click-click of my brain and its compliant...
There Is No Plan B
On days like today I need a way to make sense of (or at least hold on to) my broken heart. Perspective. Confirmation....
Choose to Believe – If Only For Today
Easter Sunday is the most significant day on the Christian church calendar. Marking and celebrating the resurrection...
The “but” changes everything.
With an hour’s drive ahead I pulled up Google on my iPhone – on the hunt for a scintillating audio to keep me company....
Pregnancy. Infertility. Faith.
The Ending:One day, out of the blue, unexpected, unanticipated, unbelievable, I was pregnant. And again, 15 months...
“The greatest day ever!!!”
I went to the grocery store a few days back, irritated that I had to make the trip in the first place. Stepping out of...
…a marvelous exchange.
I came across this poem by Macrina Wiederkehr this afternoon in A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the...
Life with Popcorn
Life is tough. It’s filled with disappointments, unmet expectations, hurt, grief, frustration, on and on the list...
Spiritual wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert
I’m about 2/3 of the way through Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not only do her words make me wish I could...
Song as Metaphor for a Woman’s Journey
For it was there that they asked us,our captors, for songs,our oppressors, for joy.“Sing to us,” they said,“one of...
364 Days
364 days have now passed in 2007. I woke up early this morning for a vacation day and no alarm. I found myself lying...
Some Advent Reflections (4)
The Polar Express, Ahaz, Joseph, and me... Sunday, December 23 – Scripture Readings:Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19; 24; Isaiah...
Some Advent Reflections (3)
Tidings of Comfort and Joy Sunday, December 16 – Scripture Readings:Psalm 63, 98; Amos 9:11-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3,...
Some Advent Reflections (2)
Sunday, December 9 – Scripture Readings:Psalm 114, 115; Amos 6:1-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12; Luke 1:57-68 I’m struck...
Some Advent Reflections (1)
In the spirit of Advent – the beginning of the church year – I decided to begin something (again): I went to church....
Happy 47th Birthday to Me!
After writing posts for both of my daughters on their birthdays, I thought it only fitting that I do the same for...
Cruising – literally…
Is there a place that one can go to get away from all thought of stolen cars or even the graciousness of given ones? I...
About Unexpected Generosity
Still no news on my stolen car. Frustrating, yes, but that emotion has been offset by the stunning and unexpected...
My Car’s Been Stolen
I know, deep down, that much if not all of life is out of my control. I also know of my proclivity to ignore that...
About Buses and Gratitude
A new season of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition has begun. The girls and I watched it faithfully last year and stepped...
Remembering Madeleine L’Engle
Just last week an amazing woman died. Madeleine L’Engle, the author of the well-loved A Wrinkle in Time and over 60...
White-Knuckling Clarity
I got an email from a woman today. In an attempt to describe her life these days, she said, “I am white-knuckling...
What Blinds Us?
Sometimes we have it in our heads that we are limited, that there are certain things we just can’t (or wouldn’t) do,...
Playing Poker with God
So often we frantically seek for an explanation to our suffering, to the things in our own life and in the world that...
About Worrying
I made myself get up, showered, dressed, and ready before accessing email (as opposed to my normal pattern of checking...
Rescued (about a cat, mostly)
What we do not see, what most of us never suspect of existing, is the silent but irresistible power which comes to...
Women: Choose the Unfamiliar
I am here again, in a familiar place feeling something I’ve felt before, wondering why it’s still here, why I didn’t...
My Proclivity for Lists
I’m a list-maker, I admit it. I not only make them, I complete them. I can have multiple lists running at the same...
Happy 50th Anniversary!
This past weekend my siblings, our families, and nearly 100 others celebrated the 50th anniversary of my parent’s...
This Father’s Day
I find myself in a sort of a gray place today. Granted, it’s the Seattle area and the skies are often as they look...
Choosing the Storm
I’ve been thinking a lot about how strong my proclivity is for calm; for a life that is tame, sedate, and...
Choose Life
I spent a couple of lovely hours with a young woman this morning who asked me what I thought about spiritual...
I Am This Woman
I wrote what follows for the women’s event, Conversations (mentioned in my last post). As the days have progressed...
Women Together: the best kind of danger
I just returned from three glorious days on the waterfront in Gig Harbor, WA. If that wasn’t good enough, I was in the...
Prophet as Female
While I was still a student at The Seattle School, I remember hearing one of my professors lecture on the categories...
Piano Recitals
Yesterday my 9-year-old daughter, Emma, gave her first piano recital. She was joined by 5 other young pianists –...
My Out Loud Voice
I was talking with a friend this morning about how common it is for women to lose their voices – not...