The quiet is palpable but not heavy. In the way the warmth of a fire eases down into your very bones, the quiet here is the bearer of a strange kind of comfort. It isn’t the absence of sound. Every tiny noise reverberates off the white stone arches of the abbey. A monk coughs in […]
Acedia and the Gift of Epiphany
by on January 2, 2019 Leave a Comment
Autumn had the potential to be an exciting season. My daughter started her freshman year of high school. She loved all her classes, flourished in the drama department, and was content in ways that delighted me. My son played fall football, and began his final year of middle school. Both of them were happy, settled, […]
Glory on the Doorstep
by on December 13, 2018 Leave a Comment
It’s here, you know. All around you. Wherever you may live, however beautiful or troubled your life might be at this particular moment in time, it’s near you, as near as your breath. I could palpate it in the room where my mother was dying last year. I see it almost every time I look—really […]
Luddite for Lent: A Phone-Fasting Testimony
by on April 12, 2018 15 Comments
I did it. For Lent, I dumbed my Smartphone down to calls, texts, podcasts and maps, uninstalled all social media, and disabled my internet browser. Then I sank into the silence and waited. At first, it felt like a house when the power goes out—too quiet. Where is the buzzing refrigerator noise I never noticed […]
I Can’t Rub My Brown Away
by on February 14, 2018 10 Comments
It’s hard to stay hidden when you’re the only brown girl in the room. I can’t slip into the background and hope no one notices me. I can’t rub my skin color away and blend into the sea of white. It’s hard to stay hidden when you have big, unruly hair that takes up space. […]
