Present Over Perfect

What the Lake Teaches This story begins and ends on the water, and our life at the lake is a theme thr ...

rhythm, a pattern. Simple, connected to God and his world and people, uncomplicated by lots of stuff. Along thi ...

hold. A friend of mine told me I was pulling the ripcord on my career by being so outspoken about how bad ...

sunny and you feel like you’re missing out. Too cold and you can’t have the balcony door open, and the ...

bowls of strawberries outside on the lawn. It was slow, and it was simple, and it was sweeter tha ...

their addiction to alcohol why they think they’re so thirsty. The stillness feels sort of like walking on ...

depends on the sky, the water, the wind. It’s raining now, and I love the sound of the drops ...

connection, peace. When you decide, finally, to stop running on the fuel of anxiety, desire to prove, fear, ...

Part 2 Tunnels We can’t trade empty for empty We must go to the waterfall For there’s a break in the cup that ...

Tunnels I’ve always had what I call crazy brain—a mind that runs and spins, that remembers obscure det ...

connection and less by exhaustion and competition. But this vein of inner darkness remained. If anything, ...

thousand times in a row, screaming with glee every time. Henry came running back. “Mom, it’s ...

snorkeling at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. And I was choking on my aggressive, almost violent s ...

unarmed: no noise, no activity, no ear-splitting volume. Just the water, the coral, my son’s small sweet han ...

wanders, I gently pull it back to the heart, like a kindergartener would make for Valentine’s Day—b ...

The longer I practiced this new way of praying, of listening, of dwelling deeply in God’s love, ...

Vinegar and Oil My friend Geri taught me something about prayer many years ago, and the image has stayed w ...

Old Testament, harvesting and pressing olives for this rich green liquid. This is the grounding truth of lif ...

love is. And so I begin, feeling a little silly, feeling like so many people I’ve criticized, inviting God ...

cards. But he isn’t. He is love itself, grace embodied, holding the fullness of who we are—strong, weak, good, ...