Things are about to ramp up around here. Thanksgiving plans are underway; Advent is just around the corner; Christmas is coming. Church is about to get busy. School is about to get busy. Home is about to get busy. I can see the busy on the horizon like a storm front rolling in. It’s a … More Taking Some Soul Space (Soul Space Thursday)
Early in my high school years, I broke my ankle at soccer practice. I’d just started getting playing time, and even scored a goal in a game (my first) the day before. Then Lindsay Vetter and I went for the ball at the same second in a drill (she won), and I came down hard … More Embracing Limits (Soul Space Thursday)
There’s a great short story by Herman Melville about a notary with a rotten boss who suddenly decides he’s had enough. After years of drudgery, serving as a legal scribe without adequate compensation or respect, one day when Bartleby’s boss asks him to examine a paper, he hesitates. “Bartleby,” writes Melville, “in a singularly mild, … More Knowing No (Soul Space Thursdays)
When I was eleven months pregnant with our second child (okay, okay, it was only eight-and-a-half, but it felt like eleven), I picked up our three-year-old at preschool only to have his teacher stop me at the door. “You know,” she said, reaching behind her for a clipboard, “Lincoln hasn’t taken the bird home this … More A Laser Yes (Soul Space Thursday)
Daryl sometimes jokes that I’m a crock pot. Apparently when you go 10 days overdue with one baby and then five days overdue with the next, you get labeled a slow cooker. The thing is though, I am in love with my crock pot, so I don’t care. One of the easiest ways to simplify … More Cook Slowly (Soul Space Thursdays)
When it comes to clutter, I can be pretty ruthless. I don’t like excess stuff hanging around, and I’m not very sentimental. Still, everyone has a blind spot when it comes to accumulating junk. My Achilles’ heel is saving unnecessary and sometimes random stuff just in case. Anybody else? I get this from my dad, … More Jettison the ‘Just in Case’ (Soul Space Thursday)
I like to joke that most things in life can be explained by scenes from either The Office (the American version, of course) or The West Wing. Take this scene from The Office, for example, where Holly Flax tries to explain time theft to her officemates. That, to the company, taking extra time at the water cooler … More Don’t Give Away the Time (Soul Space Thursday)
Daryl and I did a crazy thing a couple of months ago. In a digitally-defined world, we subscribed to a newspaper. A real, honest-to-goodness, newsprint newspaper. You guys, it gets delivered to our house. I read it while I drink my coffee. If I run my fingers across its pages, they get smudged with ink. I know, right? We’re such … More Read the Fine Print (Soul Space Thursday)
When is the last time you waited in a line? Yesterday? The day before? When is the last time you waited in a line and weren’t on your phone? Can you remember a time? Yeah, me neither. Even with my newly unloaded phone, I still pull it from my pocket in lines to read some Scripture … More Waiting in Line (Soul Space Thursdays)
How many minutes a day does your smartphone steal? If you’re anything like me, too many. Waaaay too many. We don’t give those moments away on purpose, of course. Our time is valuable; it’s precious; it matters. Yet most days you realize that, by the time your head hits the pillow, you’ve missed out on … More Unloading the Phone (Soul Space Thursdays)
