Prior to having children, I had not considered that participating in a faith community could be an act of spiritual discipline. I have learned over the past three years that the 10 minutes, and sometimes 3 hours, before church on any given Sunday tend to be the most unholy minutes or hours of the week. […]
IN PURSUIT OF INTIMACY: SIMPLICITY
The discipline of simplicity is, simply put, the practice of living with less. This practice is unique from the other spiritual disciplines that we have explored in this series, in that the need to be intentional about living with less applies specifically to those living in societies and situations that allow people to live with […]
IN PURSUIT OF INTIMACY: REST
Back in 2007, during my junior year of college, I was a resident assistant in the dorms, and I spent that entire year going to bed at 2:00 am then waking up each morning at 8:00 am. I felt tired most of the time, but not particularly exhausted. That six-hour stint of sleep each night […]
IN PURSUIT OF INTIMACY: PRAYER
My earliest memories of praying are centered around the dinner table when I was a little girl. Our family had a nightly ritual of clasping one another’s hands, swinging our arms up and down and praying “The Lord is Good to Me” in sing-song rhythm before each meal. It was a blessing designed just for […]
IN PURSUIT OF INTIMACY: MEDITATION
I sit in the chapel, cross-legged on the floor. Through the closed door I hear the dull thud of doors slamming shut, the hum of students conversing, and the buzz and bustle of a regular Tuesday evening. I fidget and move around so that I’m kneeling, and then prostrate myself on the floor. I breathe […]
IN PURSUIT OF INTIMACY: SPIRITUAL PRACTICES THAT CAN GROW US CLOSER TO GOD
“It’s not a religion, it’s a relationship.” I’ve lost track of the number of times that I’ve heard this phrase uttered in reference to Christianity. The idea of being in a relationship with God is one of the things that sets Christians apart from other belief systems. We are not bound by the obligation to […]
FOR BETTER, FOR WORSE
When my husband and I got married four years ago we discussed whether we ought to write our own wedding vows or use a more traditional format. Traditional wedding vows are pretty comprehensive – for richer and for poorer, for better and for worse, and quite a few things in between. Ultimately, we chose traditional […]
HIS & HERS (GENDER ROLES SERIES)
Amidst the unsolicited advice and passionate opinions from friends, relatives, and strangers on the street, one of the greatest challenges that prospective parents face is the task of sifting through the endless sea of information about parenting. Hopeful parents must contend with a wealth of parenting philosophies, mommy blogs, safety information and product reviews. It […]