Day 15: Motion “We can choose to be stationary or we can choose to be still.” Day 16: Get Out “Maybe where you are and what you are doing this day is exactly right.” Day 17: Cycle “We are, at every moment, beginning and ending.” Day 18: One Winter “. . . our connections to […]
A Believable Witness by John Blase
I’m Snoopy-spin-happy today to welcome John Blase into this space as part of our series on Making Manifest. John knows how to pay attention, and when he bears witness, his words touch deep places. And someone who cries when Linus lights the tree and gives his that’s-what-Christmas-is-all-about-Charlie-Brown speech? Well, that makes them extra special. Welcome, John! […]
Making Manifest: Introduction by Dave Harrity
Today’s the day we start our devotional journey through Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at Hand by Dave Harrity, and I’m all tingly with anticipation. I can’t wait to see what happens when a group of us intentionally take some time over the month to daily slow down, still ourselves, listen, and create a […]
Richard Foster on Silence and Writing
I’ve been a Richard Foster fan for years. I’ve got the first editions of Celebration of Discipline (named by Christianity Today as one of the top 10 most influential books of the 20th century) and Freedom of Simplicity. Way back when, I led a Sunday School group through FOS—which probably amounted to simply reading aloud every […]
40 Words of Lent 2014: Day 31 (Five Minute Friday – Writer)
She threw the rock in a meltdown moment. The lantern exploded into a bazillion grains of shimmered sand. He makes all things beautiful. I brushed the shards into my palm, squeezed until I bled. Then I sat down to write. Word Count: 40 Today’s Reading: 2 Corinthians 1 – 13 NOTE: “We need […]
40 Words of Lent 2014: Day 30 (Plus An Invitation and a Giveaway!)
“We need solitude in a world that wants to visit, quiet from a world that wants idle chit-chat, and steadfastness in a world where everything’s changing and transient. We need time to gather the little pieces of ourselves that scatter.” Word Count: 40 ~Dave Harrity in Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at […]
five minute friday: and so I write…
You’ll have to read the first part of Seth Godin’s post to get how Goldie Hawn fits into this quote. Unpredictable isn’t precisely the same as random. We can certainly make dumb choices, we can suffer from being unprepared, we can be the victim of bad judgment too. The essential thing to remember, though, is that every […]
when the river breathes
The Frio splashes on tires, and Charity rolls down the window so we can bathe in the sound of it. Right away I feel a shift in my spirit and a nauseous-not-nauseous sense in the pit of my stomach–anticipation as I melt into this thin place that’s thick with the presence of God. The sacred […]
when i was no writer and my words were poo
“I like good strong words that mean something.” ~Jo March (Little Women) I chinned the rusty barrel near the hem of our woods. The carbon petals curled and separated. The ashes fluttered high and melted into the atmosphere. Cremation complete. The weekly newspaper over in the next county had rejected my fiction story—the […]
when jealousy visits
Jealousy is one of the occupational hazards of being a writer, and the most degrading. And I, who have been the Leona Helmsley of jealously, have come to believe that the only things that help ease or transform it are (a) getting older, (b) talking about it until the fever breaks, and (c) using it […]
