Today my two-year old, Emmy, decided to do a 16 piece puzzle. It’s a bit above her ability level. I watched her put all the pieces in a pile. She plucked one out and…

I got to have a sweet conversation with Gaby this morning. The book we were reading had the word ‘destiny’ in it and she asked what that meant. I tried my best to give an explanation and then she says…

Are we there yet? It's the oft-comical question of the hour, or more realistically, the minute. But it is most definitely our hearts' serious and desperate cry- our knees banging the cold concrete begging God like the Psalmist (David)- "How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

“I’ll never catch Your light
Living with knuckles white
Keeping my fists held tight
I’ll never touch Your heart
Or take in all You are
Trying to hide my scars
I’m letting go of holding on”

And it's in the middle of that- what feels like the end of the world- when God commands us to 'be still and know.' When it's the last thing you want to do. When all seems lost, out of control, damaging, horrific.

God has never left me, though I gave him every reason. God has never left me, though I didn’t always feel him. God has never left me, and his faithfulness is unchanging.

You said to come. 'The door is open' you said. 'Come boldly' you said. Well here I am. Here. Low. Though not by choice. Show me I can believe you. Don't let your whispers be so faint.

I mean, I’ve burnt my fair share of cookies. I’ve won many second places. And I’ve warmed the bench a few times. Almost is certainly not a foreign word in my dictionary. But why am I okay with that? I don’t want my life to be one that could consistently be described with ‘almost.’

C.S Lewis says in The Problem of Pain: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.” He says that…

God calls me to get behind the wheel of a planter but right now I'm not feeling like much of a farmer.

What is the greatest emotion/feeling and why? My original inspiration has since been replaced. The emotion I was going to propose as the greatest feeling…

I wait. I sit. I stand. I pace. It’s a race, against time, against my illusion of falling short. I can’t wait any longer. You do what I want, when I want, how I want. Never soon enough. Never good enough. Stop wasting my time. It’s mine, not yours. Still pacing. If it’s not now it must not be right. Have to fight the wait or I might burst. Urgent. And then you say that.

We are a people of variety aren’t we? We get tired of the same old things, as much as we praise routine and normalcy, we still wish we could be unique, have metamorphosis. Is it possible to have too much of a good thing?

Michael Scott: “What is the most inspiring thing I’ve ever said to you?"
Dwight Schrute: “Don’t be an idiot. Changed my life.” [To camera] “Whenever I’m about to do something I think- ‘Would an idiot do that?’ And if they would, I do not do that thing.”

“ ‘I’m no artist, but I don’t think the point of art is to mean, I think it’s to render. If it doesn’t do that, if it needs a plaque to explain it, it’s not art. It’s like nature- what does a bird mean by its song? What does a flower mean when it blooms? It means beauty. Any explanation beyond that is superfluous.’ ”

Just the right combination of words can bring someone to tears, laughter, rage, despair, or admiration. Words tell a story, portray beauty, cross boundaries. They teach, rebuke, encourage, reach, destroy, and restrain.