Would You Like A Life Without Baggage?
I am fresh off an actual in-person conference and it felt like writer’s cramp and a sore face. I haven’t taken notes in two years, not by hand. Those muscles mounted a mutiny. And my laugh-out-loud-until-it-hurts muscles? They needed to be flexed more than I knew. In one workshop, my friend Mary DeMuth pressed her
Is It Time for You To Be Fun Again?
Would it help you today to know it’s ok to laugh? That even in the insanity of daily headlines, we aren’t hopeless, and I do hope we’re not humorless. Just because the globe is uptight doesn’t mean God forgot His fun side. It’s everywhere. Here are a few places I see it: His creation The
How To Find a Pain-Free Life
Forever, I’ve wanted to remodel my master bathroom, but it beat me to it. It remodeled me. What were the builders of my step-down shower thinking? Let’s drop a fifteen-square foot hole in the house, line it with slick ceramic tile, and not install grab bars. What could possibly go wrong? I’m sure the Turkish-bathhouse vibe
How’s the Bible Working Out For You?
It called to me from the thrift store jewelry case—a vintage pearl face watch with translucent beads and just the right Bohemian flair for my flowy outfit. It had probably belonged to someone’s grandma. For a few bucks, it would be a shame not to clasp it around my wrist. I wore it several times
Looking For Rest? It’s Found in a Four-Letter Word.
I once wrote a twenty-word “fast fact” for a corporate report that got slapped with a 200-word disclaimer by the legal team. Imagine, twenty words saddled with ten times their weight in unwieldly corporate claptrap—connected through an asterisk and buried in 8-point type. Makes me think. I’m so glad Jesus didn’t complicate things. He just
I Want To Be An Old Bag
Only now at age 50 have I found my calling. I want to be an old bag. I’ll explain. If life were a bag, I’d want mine to look like this weathered leather briefcase. I want to be worn from all the hands that found comfort in mine. I want to be expanded from loads
Why Is Jesus So Nosy?
“Are you supposed to be here or are you on the cut list?” Racine softball Coach Charlie Collins barks out the question to left fielder Shirley Baker in the 1992 movie, A League of Their Own. It’s the critical moment after tryouts when 64 women will have made four teams in the first all-female baseball league.
Return Suffering to Sender? Maybe We’d Miss Joy.
We can trust the vinedresser’s careful hands. He knows what to cut now. He knows what to cut later. He prunes what He expects to grow. And He puts the shears down and sustains us when the wind, rain and fierce elements of this world lay us low.
I Just Wanted To Be Pretty in Pink
“I’m so sorry that happened to your pretty coat,” the flight attendant said, handing me a claim slip to submit to the airline. They’d have my brand new pink coat dry cleaned, she promised. I made the mistake of sticking it in the overhead bin, where items shift during flight and greasy hinges shift your
Are You Waiting? Light Always Comes.
Are you in a season of waiting? Has the night gone on too long? Maybe you’re waiting to find out if it’s cancer. Waiting for God to give you an answer. Or that relationship still limps along, tattered and estranged. Or the mountain reveals a hidden ascent every time you’re spent and sweating and thought
Go Get Your Life
Chase the dream. Write the book. Say the apology. Forgive the offense. Say the hard yes. Say the hard no. Toss the fraud tapes. Play the God tapes. Rip the bandage off. Lance the wound. Pursue the healing. Put boundaries up. Put armor on. Put yourself out there. Make heaven crowded. Go get your life.
40 Days to Lift Your Gaze
Do you give up anything for Lent? Maybe it’s chocolate. Or carbs. Maybe you go to DEFCON 1 by giving up shopping on Amazon. This year, what if you gave up your right to be mad at someone? Oh snap. Let me walk that back. Maybe there’s pain. Or you’re estranged from someone you love.
Love Your Enemies? Maybe it’s that simple.
It’s loud out there. Invectives are flying faster than airplanes with middle seats open. Social media platforms have replaced masks as the new red and blue of politics. And we just limped into the arms of 2021 only to find we’re in a full nelson. Our “unprecedented times” are becoming more precedented and so I’m
10 Ways God Wants to Make You New
If there’s one thing we need as we hop out of the dumpster fire of 2020 into the hope of 2021, it’s newness. New hearts. New wonder. New wineskins. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, but thank goodness we’re not. We’d stay stuck. We’d wander. We’d regress. We need someone loving to help
Are You Longing for Light?
I can’t wait for Christmas. In a year of “I can’ts,” there’s almost a desperation when we say it. Like we need it. Like our lives depend on it. The earliest displays of holiday lights and nativity scenes went up in my neighborhood in October. October. Where I live, it’s 90 degrees in October. Sorry,
The 12 Dysfunctional Days of Christmas
This post won’t be for everyone. But oh dear goodness, it will be for someone. Consider it a salve for the sisters who need less silent treatment and more Silent Night. Or a nod to those who secretly think Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer is a catchy little tune. Or a lifeline for
Laurie Davies
