The Surprising Thing about God’s Christmas List

Nutmeg-flecked eggnog rises in sweet slow-moving waves to my tongue. I smile with closed-lips and mull it around my mouth. On this last day of December, our Christmas tree still sparkles red, green, orange, pink, despite olive green rigor mortis setting in. Photo Credit: Flickr user Anne, Creative Commons, cc license You probably saw glimpses…

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Finding Joy When You’re Fighting to Stay Afloat

Photo Credit: Carolyn Pinke He’s singing and the echoes bounce off shower walls, YMCA tiles, and slip under door number three to us in the family locker room outside. Daniel’s happiness slides out and over, a cacophony of joy in a bathroom of strangers. The door cracks and he appears, hair wet swirls on his…

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God is Not a Cosmic Chastity Belt

Tiny ice balls pelt the windshield and bounce off the car. Sidewalks and roads glisten slick. Three-to-four inches of heavy snow loom in grey clouds overhead, and evening traffic snakes red along the highways and frontage roads. Sirens and ricocheting blue lights careen down dark streets. Photo Credit: Flickr user Paola Kizette Cimenti, Creative Commons…

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Unearthing Thanks (and a special Audio for You)

Can you see them? The condensation-dripping plastic ziplock bags hanging from the clean dishes rack. And I’m not sure if it’s just the frugal missionary kid in me that still washes plastic bags, or the trying-to-go-more-green-girl in me who is sad about too many plastic bags floating in the oceans, but nonetheless, three bags hang…

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The Chicken and the Egg in a Bedroom of Silk Sheets

I’ve seen the chill creep right up through a marriage — seen it in others and watched it frost up my own. I know firsthand the battle to restore romance, one choice at a time. And while experts are right that hostility shrinks up desire, experts also point out this powerful hope: any relationship can…

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The Lie that’ll Ruin Your Sex Life

(This is the second post in the series, Let’s Talk about Sex. The first is here.) Photo Credit: Flickr user Milena Mihaylova, Creative Commons cc license You’ve crept up to me quiet and said it in hushed voices. In conference hallways, outside workshop doors, or pulling me aside at retreats and MOPS groups, you’ve swiped…

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Of Sex and Cheesecake

He mentioned it casually while he was lacing up his shoes on a red hallway rug, and I can’t remember how it came up. “Why doesn’t the Church talk more about sex, Mom?” My twenty-one year old had to leave for work so our conversation was short. “Well, your dad and I do, and our…

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This is When It Strikes You Most

In the whispering crack of my door opening, I wake and feel him tiptoe near. “Mom?” he asks and I know. “I’ll be right there.” Photo Credit: Flickr user Daniel Gies, Creative Commons, cc license He pads away, hands out to navigate the dark room and hallway. I hear his door open and shut across…

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How Your Voice Translates Across Chords and Courtyards

Twenty of us scraped chairs on shiny wooden floors then settled legs still. My paper plate sagged with food: a tangy key lime cheesecake slice with frothy whipped cream lay next to a smooth plain cheesecake piece topped with blueberry crisp. Sweet corn and pepper cowboy caviar salsa slid juices across the plate and soaked…

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