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What's a Girl to Do?

I don’t think I understood the assignment. I only wish I could remember the story behind the picture, but I’m guessing my expression is somehow related to the flowery headband. Today’s expression captured in pictures or forced frills will be the same. What’s a girl to do on Father’s Day when she no longer has a living dad? One clear snapshot has impressed itself on my mind today, one that now only exists in my mind. I wonder if Dad carried the memory, too—he and I were the only ones in the foreground of this image, a moment that only belonged to us. I don’t know how old I was—older than three because we lived on Gamma Street. Not so old as five. I suspect events leading up to this moment had something to do with sibling jealousy over my brother’s arrival and the resulting demands on my mother’s time, but that is unclear. I was going through a mommy phase. I wanted Mommy to tuck me in at night. I wanted Mommy to carry me around. I wanted Mommy, just Mommy. I wanted nothing to do wit...
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Inspiration: an Acrostic

I question my perception, Never certain of Your Sovereign will, specific Purpose ordained for my life.   I waffle one way, then another— Reaching for defined direction All while Your Spirit speaks Through nature, news, fellowship, Word.   I stop. See You in action, summoning Only as You, my beloved Abba, can. Nebulous struggle recedes. * * * Photo by Ana Municio on Unsplash
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The Author

Lord, this is not how I would write this story were it mine.   I acknowledge you’re the Author, yet you gave creative license to one who flounders, finding the pen too heavy to hold, making scribbles where clear cursive lettering should be— according to me.   Please spotlight your hand hovering under his, waiting too long, in my opinion, for him to return writing right to you.   And while I’m praying, Lord, here’s my pen, too. * * * Photo by Stephen Tettey Atsu on Unsplash
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Faith: the Ultimate Wager

When I was in college, one of my professors used to say something to the effect that faith is going out on a limb with all your eggs in one basket. My classmates and I would laugh while looking at each other in alarm and shifting uncomfortably in our seats. We were ministry students set on following Jesus and leading others to do the same. Still, the metaphors made us think. There was more to it, though. As I remember it, my professor said that if there was any uncertainty, he liked the outcome he faced if he was wrong better than the outcome unbelievers face if they are wrong. We couldn’t argue with that logic. I learned just yesterday that this argument for faith has a name: prudential apologetics (Phillips 347). Essentially, the person trying to convince an unbeliever to believe argues that it’s prudent to believe because they have a lot less to lose by believing than they risk by refusing to believe. This is also known as Pascal’s Wager, named for Blaise Pascal, a French philos...
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Resource Review: Breaking Free from Insecurity by Marji Broce

I’m not usually a podcast person. My husband and I listen to true crime on road trips, but that’s about it. I’m a visual learner; I like reading books. But when Marji, a friend from college and former prayer partner, asked me to listen to her new podcast, Breaking Free from Insecurity , I was excited to give it a try. I’ve been listening for five weeks now. Whenever a new episode appears in my Spotify library, I go for a walk with Marji and listen to what she has to say. (The podcast is available in Apple Music , too.) Episodes are short and succinct, ranging from thirteen to twenty-three minutes. I appreciate the way Marji has broken her points down into easily processed bits. She gives her listeners one new idea each week, then builds on that teaching week by week. At the start of each episode, Marji introduces the new concept and illustrates it with Scripture, life experience, and simple analogies. In the episode I listened to this morning, she introduced core beliefs and tal...
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My First Memories of Earth Day

I don’t remember the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, but I was alive for it. When I was in elementary school, the teachers would give us magnets and send us door-to-door to collect aluminum cans to be recycled and save the world. The magnets, in case you were wondering, helped us distinguish between aluminum and tin. Recycling aluminum was essential because, my teachers taught, the world had almost used it all up. Tin, I guess, could still be tossed. I don’t remember recycling that before the 90’s. But using the magnets to collect aluminum is my earliest memory of environmental action. I didn’t know on that first Earth Day that special interest groups across the nation united their efforts for the first time ever or that college students, politicians, business leaders, and activists spent that day learning, teaching, and making others aware of issues regarding the health of our world’s environment. Our world has come a long way since then. Those who use up are taught to give back....
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Hope for a Summer Librarian

This week I started reading The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams, and I am entranced with it. I can’t write a review because I am only on chapter 3, but I can’t wait to see what happens to Mukesh, Aleisha, and others introduced, but yet to be identified. And though I have already read most of the books on the reading list contained in this particular book, I have added those new to me to my own TBR pile. I am writing about this now because one of the main characters, Aleisha, has my dream job. She is a librarian. However, she is a teenage librarian working only for the summer. (How did this happen?!) Library patrons annoy her if they need help. She attempts to ignore them, hoping they’ll find what they need without bothering her. If they cannot, she is impatient and rude. She admits that she doesn’t know much about books and, therefore, can’t make recommendations. She can only help people find books if they know what books they want, and even then, she directs them to the computer i...
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