Tomorrow is the second Tuesday in November. I find myself happy that 2023 is not a presidential year. We hopefully have 12 more months before another civil war reenactment, where brother rises against brother and son against father. Maybe it’s our country’s legacy to fight our family to the death over state’s rights and racial inequality. I’ve always considered it a duty to vote, even though I was pretty young when I first heard Stalin’s discouraging quote about the one who counted the votes deciding more than the one who cast them. It still felt very American, since some countries don’t have an opportunity to think about their preference for one overlord more than another. However, I often treated voting click to continue reading…
Category: Faith
Walking out what you say you believe
Where God guides
The first time I heard “Where God guides—He provides,” was during the time I desperately wanted to own a home, so we wouldn’t have to keep wondering where we’d live. I was standing on someone’s deck in Tahoe and staring at an expansive, grassy lawn. Bordered by pine and aspen, the lawn sloped down into a strawberry garden. It was that typical tour you get when you visit people’s homes for the first time. This is how my husband always gives ours: My first thought (and I probably said it back then because I’m still only an orange belt in watching my mouth) was, “I wish God would guide me.” Granted, I’m sure financial reward isn’t the original intention click to continue reading…
No thanks, I’m full
I’m leaving for California today, and traveling this week, so I didn’t have time to record the post. Someone I love asked me if my morality lived inside me or if it was externally mandated. We were circling whether humanity had an innate sense of right and wrong—because sometimes it doesn’t seem that way. I think he leaned toward “yes,” so there was no excuse for pillaging the earth, the animals and your neighbor. But I waver. You never have to teach a child selfishness. You teach them what is allowed in your house. Most childhood choices toward morality are because of fear of punishment or in search of praise from guardians. Later, the same motivation comes from school, employers click to continue reading…
Oh, the molehills I’ve died upon
I remember when I first heard about the difference between Calvinism and Arminianism. It was a season of spiritual growth. I was a young mom seeking to know God for the first time even though I had technically asked him “into my heart” ten years earlier. The pastor presented both positions in a good light and said that our flavor of Christianity (Calvary Chapel) landed on a mixture of the two. A handful of years later, when I had space from baby-making and time to look things up on the internet, I began to hunger for more knowledge and details about my faith. Our community and many of our friends were LDS, and that prompted me to seek confirmation click to continue reading…
Gimme some sugar, baby
One recommendation for a creative block is to change something. For the example of a writing book: write in a new location like a coffee shop, or write by hand instead of on your computer. Changing something works for other types of mental blocks as well and that’s why people find solutions in the shower or on a walk instead of while staring at the problem. I used this recently and when I switched up my typical fiction genre I was able to finish a few books. I ended up reading several rom-coms about contracts and fake relationships. I’m not really sure why being bound to a man by contract, who has control over you, especially what you wear and click to continue reading…