cultivating the beautiful ordinary by sharing our tales and our tables
I AM RADIANT, VIBRANT, AND MAGNETIC. These are the tender, yet bold, and, honestly, very necessary words a beloved friend strategically taped to my desk when I wasn’t looking. I’m in a season where the language I use to talk about who I am, my personality, and my strengths and weaknesses feels like it can…
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As I sit down to write this essay, I am wiping the smeared mascara that coats the skin just below my eyelashes. The black smudges cover up the bags underneath my eyes, which reminds me of the layers of exhaustion most of my days have held. My eyes aren’t smudged from crying this time, but…
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As I sit here writing this morning, my son at preschool for a few hours, a pine-scented candle burning, and the mess of holiday break all around me, I notice the quiet and the stillness that surround me too. Our lovable and attached Goldendoodle gazes up from beneath the creamy coils around her eyes, taking…
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My eyes feel heavy. I have loads of to-dos in the waiting room of my brain, unread emails, toys all over, lots of people to call, and there is a sticky residue I noticed in the fridge earlier. I haven’t seen Theo eat a vegetable in a while; my small group is starting up this…
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I have one more year left in my twenties. Some might say I’m a young spring chicken with barely any life under my belt (but we don’t wear belts anymore, thank you, high-waisted jeans!). That’s not untrue. I am pretty young in the grand scheme of things, but as I consider the seasons that have…
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Someone recently asked me, “How do I even know if I believe in God? What about God is worthy of believing?” Little did I know that the journey I would take the next few weeks would entail loss, and grief, and confusion. Little did I know that amidst that loss and grief and confusion I…
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I used to be a girl who posted a perfectly-crafted picture of the coffee shop quiet time I would have with just me and Jesus and my Bible, perfectly arranged on a wooden countertop next to my designer latte with a perfect heart. I mean, if it wasn’t Instagram-worthy, did it even happen? These days,…
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We often sat in the little room that held the door to the elevator, blocked off by a small set of windows. The carpet wasn’t incredibly comfortable, just generic purple with a bit of a worn-down vibe. The room only saw high traffic on move-in weekends and with the occasional third-floor resident who was too…
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As we sat on the concrete porch surrounded by a white fence and antique corbels, we sipped our Keurig coffee and ate homemade blueberry scones I had prepared the night before. She wiped a single tear from her mocha-colored cheek between yawns and said, “I’ve never known the love of God before.” She was a…
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From the moment she and her mom walked into my office I wondered if she deserved more of a professional than me or more tenderness than I felt like I was able to offer. I felt like she could’ve been me had some things gone differently in my life. We started by talking about her…
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