The Pattern Within
A young missionary in a church out west, I had my first real job, and my first family away from home. At the tail end of my two year stint, deep in the process of ordination, I was seminary bound. A colt kicking in the stalls, ready to run, I was pregnant with grand ideals about how […]
The Critics
It started at an after-work happy hour. Grousing about the all-but-notional pay raises, certain decisions made by the leadership team, the way those decisions were communicated. At first I mostly sat quietly and listened — after all, I loved my new job! What did I have to complain about? But over time, I joined in […]
Babe
Whether on a church sign or a doormat, the word “welcome” doesn’t always tell the truth. What we do know is that it’s fixed in place. A true welcome is a stance, a practice, a moving thing. It’s most powerful when it’s in loving pursuit, carried in an outstretched hand: Medicine for the wounded, food for the […]
The Line
A channel, a conduit, a portal, a pathway, a hollow bone — each carry something, allowing it to pass through. A line, a thread — they pull what is moving through me. Whose line am I holding? I begin with my own. I look just like my father, whose name I carry, and whose legacy I hold. My […]
