“You Only Need to Resist for a Little Bit”
Photo Credit: Slagheap, Creative Commons, cc “You only need to resist for a little bit,” a friend said recently. “Delay, hold off. Resist the temptation for that instant gratification, and often that’s all it takes. The temptation dissipates.” He’s wise, and there was something battle-scarred and proven in that open declaration. It rang true…
The Lie that Will Ruin Your Sex Life
Photo: Pedro Ribeiro Simoes, 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 hair back from your face, and bravely opened up. “I know the stereotype is that men want sex…
What a Warrior in a Wine Cave Would Tell You
It was easier last week. Easier when the screen displayed five or six options, to breathe in blithely and say that we were trusting God for our new home. It’s always easier to feel relaxed in trusting God when the cars in the driveway start, when the bank accounts have wider margins between the…
Making Spring Break Work for Every Family, on Every Budget
Photo courtesy of Hasitha Tudagalle, Creative Commons, cc license From downstairs come the happy hum of voices and the tinkle of Legos being fingered and raked through. My college-age son is home on spring break and my younger two children are thrilled to see him. In between frequent outings with friends, he is nonetheless being…
Do You Feel It Calling You?
Artist Thomas Rousing, Creative Commons, cc licensing Can you remember it? The first time someone pointed it out to you or the first-time you noticed that feeling in your chest? It might have been the way you caught that football pass while diving into the grass, or after they caught you belting out a song…
Want to Build Creativity, Boost Your Immune System, and Be More Alert?
Photo Credit, Berknot, Creative Commons, cc It revved once, and then even the electricity turned off with a sad muted click, and the car sat silent in a frigid fourteen degrees below zero Sunday morning driveway. Yanking a lever under the left side of the dashboard, I jumped out of the car, pulling my mittens…
What Every Comparing-Prone Woman Needs to Know
This lovely woman’s photo found here by Dan Hutcheson, Creative Commons, cc I can see it now. The twelve men hunkered down around a small Middle Eastern table, knees brushing up against each other, carefully trying to edge their muddy feet away from the clothing around them. Similar to Mardi Gras or the Super Bowl,…
She’s Smarter Than Me
We were sitting there side by side, and tension was mounting. Long dark hair fell across her face and her eyes flashed. Wiping furious tears from her cheek, she grit her teeth, and I watched jaw muscles flex and clench. A homework assignment was aggravating her, and confusion masqueraded as fury. After several exasperated sighs,…
What Your Neighbor is Trying to Tell You
The wind blew gales all night, buffeting the house, and we snuggled deeper under beds’ blankets. In dark twilight six am, five year old Daniel knocks on our door, and it’s my turn to get up with him. We lumber sleepy-eyed out to the couch, dodging Legos, to curl up in silence. Heavy snow drags…
Intersecting Plot Lines
Photo credit: Daniel Ansel Tingcungco, Flickr, Creative Commons, cc It’s the tiny clues that hit my subconscious. Triggers of another plotline weaving briefly through mine. A dark-haired man drives his car around a curve and, in the sixty seconds I see him, he’s banging both hands on the steering wheel, and bouncing his body against…