Red Tent Living

Inviting The Light

By: redtentwomen January 23, 2020January 22, 2020

Day to Day, Monthly ThemesBreathe, Enneagram, Enneagram 2, Enneagram 3, Haley Wiggers, New Year1 Comment

7:30 AM. The ring of one of those generic alarms sounds in my ears. I should probably get up and get going if I want my day to look anything like productive and if I want to be at work by 8:30. I hit snooze instead. Just a few more minutes. The same alarm sounds…

Dreams Awaiting

By: redtentwomen January 22, 2020January 20, 2020

Day to Day, FaithChange, Hope, hope and fear, Jenny Wheeler, New Year, Risk6 Comments

Dreams awaiting daylight. I have so many. Planted in the secret, quiet confines of a tender heart. But how do you dream anew after years of hopes unanswered? After giving your all and coming so close but it not being quite enough? How do you dare ask for the impossible, when you’re battered and bruised?…

Permissions of Breath

By: redtentwomen January 21, 2020January 22, 2020

Day to Day, LiteratureEducation about Sex Trafficking, Poetry, Scarlet Road, Sexual Abuse Survivor, survivor, Victoria Ahlfors2 Comments

What happens to the heart when the walls come closing in? When the thunder makes one hide amidst the shadows? Just breathe. Give yourself permission to just…simply…breathe.

Making Room

By: redtentwomen January 20, 2020January 18, 2020

Day to Day, relationshipsDevan Grayson, Emotional Recovery, Learning to Trust, Recovery7 Comments

My roommate Emily gets home from work earlier than I expect and knocks gently on my door asking, “Are you ok?”. “Don’t come in,” I try to sound as normal as possible, swallowing my tears before they escape me. I’m thrown off balance. I intended to get all my feelings out before she got home—to…

Please God.

By: redtentwomen January 17, 2020January 16, 2020

Day to Day, FemininityBecky Schulthess, Being Single, Childless, depression, Singleness7 Comments

No baby has blessed my womb Disgrace my lot, disgrace my doom Never feeling the growing inside I said I was OK with it. I lied. Never feeling touch, skin to skin No offspring from me, no next of kin Never seeing eyes open in wonder No baby, my heart asunder Never hearing cries in…

New Margin

By: redtentwomen January 15, 2020January 13, 2020

Day to Day, Monthly ThemesAging, Change, Loving Well, Ministry, Pat Sloan, Stroke Survivor4 Comments

After the season of shopping, buying, gifting and receiving more “things”, my challenge has always been to slow down and build some margin back into my life! I read once that margin involves reserves beyond what is needed, an extra amount for contingencies or emergencies. I find a lot of “LIFE” falls into that category!

Houston, We Have A Problem

By: redtentwomen January 13, 2020January 12, 2020

Day to Day, FaithBethany Cabell, death of a pet, Laying things to rest, processing grief, raising boys11 Comments

Houston, the school’s pet hamster, came to stay with us over the holiday break. My youngest son worked hard to earn enough money to pay to have this adorably furry friend vacation at our house. Both boys were elated at the thought of having Houston as part of our family for more than two whole…

Interface

By: redtentwomen January 10, 2020January 9, 2020

Day to Day, Monthly ThemesClaudia Hauer, David Wiliams, Martin Heidegger, New Years Resolutions, Standing Reserve, When The English Fall4 Comments

I don’t do much state-of-the-art technology for myself. I bought my son a new set of wireless ear buds as an early Christmas present. He kindly bequeathed on me his old pair. He showed me how to store them in their charging case, and explained that the case itself would have to be plugged into the charger from time to…

Dreams Don’t Die with Motherhood

By: redtentwomen January 9, 2020January 8, 2020

Day to Day, FemininityDreaming, Kelsi Folsom, Motherhood, Poetry, Transitions, Writing10 Comments

A little notebook sits on the back, left corner of a small, brown table in the tiny kitchen of my cottage on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Saba. No matter how many times I spray and wipe down the wooden surface, a thin film of “too many chaotic dinners” remains. I reach for this journal,…