Living into the sacred space of God's everyday grace
It was always cute when Charlie Brown said it. Albeit in an exasperated sort of way. Maybe Lucy had just snatched the football away again. Perhaps Snoopy had taken on his Joe Cool alter ego. But whenever Charlie Brown was fed up, disgruntled or had it up to here (which, for him, is the curly… Continue reading Good Grief
This. Week. OOOOPH. I cannot remember a crazier roller coaster ride in a very long time. Such hopeful highs and such crushing lows. Perhaps the election results thrilled you, left you in despair, or had little impact at all. For me - it has been a week. A year. An 18 months. Watching the results… Continue reading Electing to heal my heart
I have this thing about being near authors who I really like. It usually manifests as an inability to speak in complete sentences, accompanied by extreme awkwardness and anxiety. I had no reason to believe that I’d learned anything since the last time I went to an author’s event but I forced myself out of… Continue reading M is for Mother
I'm honored to be at ALTARWORK today, sharing in the spirit of NPR - This I Believe. I believe Jesus died to pull us back into the pages of God’s original story for us. God gives us the freedom to do as we please with the story. We can cross out the parts we don’t… Continue reading This I Believe: My Part in God’s Story
When it comes to fangirling, I’m much more apt to lapse into a stammering, star-struck nerd when it comes to beloved writers. I gasp with glee as I build that pedestal just a little bit higher with every perfect turn of phrase that I read. I become the little kid sitting cross-legged at the library… Continue reading For the love of dog
“I wish I could unsee that,” I thought. I knew that my reaction was selfish. Naïve. Irresponsible. The photo of the Aleppo boy took my breath away. I mean it literally had me instantly doing this shallow pit-of-my-stomach breathing as I looked. And then looked away. And then clicked the photo closed. But my breathing… Continue reading Eyes to See
Photo Credit: John Nyberg I was looking up some Scripture from the message at church and once again, I was struck by the name of the book Lamentations. I mean, who laments these days? Sure we’ve all been there, no matter what we call it. A meltdown, the ugly cry, even “man tears”. But lamenting… Continue reading When’s the last time you lamented?
I’m blessed to join this lovely tribe of writers for Five Minute Friday. Just what it sounds like. Five minutes, one writing prompt, zero editing. Just write. Now GO! I heard the prompt of “happy” and felt anxious. What the? Who does that? Not deep down true anxiety but pressure. And then the questions… Continue reading Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Five Minute Friday means writing for five minutes on the word of the week. It's meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. This makes my eye twitch but I do it anyway. This week's word is hidden. GO! Sometimes I think I confuse the… Continue reading Hidden, not lost
Blah Blah Blah, words, ideas, feelings. It's purely a formality but I am officially blowing the dust off. Butt in chair, shitty first drafts, killing my darlings. Oh look, a cat video.
Patricia Alderman 