“Perfect is the enemy of good enough.” This is a line they teach us often when it comes to novel-writing. Where the effort for perfection will often never get all the way off its butt and do something, being good says, “I recognize I will never be the best of the best there ever was. […]

Kindness—such a privilege and a challenge. How easy it is to show kindness to a beloved friend in good times, to a well-behaved pet, to a co-worker who’s done something solid for you. How difficult when a friend is trapped in a mess of their own making. When the cat tears the curtains. When a […]

It happened again. Actually, it happened twice. At lunchtime I stepped outside at the sound of my dog barking—his usual “I’m hot, let me inside now” bark—only to find him across the street, tether in tow, wrapped around the neighbor’s porch column. Utterly befuddled, I set his very grateful self free, untangled his tether, and […]

Peace can be hard-won when you struggle with anxiety like I do—like many people do. Yet that abundant, deep peace is something God wants for each of us. Something He is willing to lead us into. Something everyone can have if they’re willing to put forth the time and effort and set up the boundaries […]

There are moments of joy that stick out in life. I remember being eight years old, the winter I got my first dog, the first time I deeply remember experiencing what I would call joy. After years and years of tearful pleading, my parents finally adopted Harley Davidson, my Christmas present that year, about three […]

I heard someone say once that love is the unifying language. I have had friends through the years with whom it was often difficult to communicate for one reason or another, yet a loving act done by one of us for the other never went misunderstood. Where words failed, love spoke. Love manifests itself in […]

Have you ever been in a mood so rotten you felt like you reeked? I think if we’re being honest, we’ve all been there. Sometimes we get fed up and surly and then something spews out of our mouth that makes us go “Wow, even I know that was savage!” At that moment, the odiousness […]

When I was a kid, sometimes I doubted whether I had holy spirit. That’s typical, I guess…when you’re raised around a certain spiritual term and you finally hit that age where you start trying to grasp the esoteric implications of it. It just didn’t connect with me for a long time what holy spirit was […]

Spending a year looking deep into the Book of Ephesians with family, friends, and brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ taught me a lot. It taught me about the depths and richness of the story God built into this world and this life; about our standing with God, with Jesus, with each other; […]

Now that I’ve got your attention, let’s talk about the importance of not letting your promise just be a promise or your words just be words. I’m as guilty of this as anyone: after hearing about something someone is going through or hoping for or is in need of guidance about, I tell them I’ll […]