Blog

The Spiritual Practice of Nagging
The bittersweet end of the academic year means waving a fond goodbye to our graduates and wishing them well. It also means a sigh of

Kuyper the Mensch
For me the book’s most intriguing contributions lie in Kuyper’s largely private, lives: as world traveler and mountaineer.

Mom, Are Aliens Real?
Would the presence of intelligent extraterrestrial creatures diminish human dignity or force us to reconsider what it means for us to be created in the

The Mothers We Celebrate and The Ones We Don’t See
For every mother who is being celebrated, there’s another who is deep in grief. For every mother at a family brunch, there’s another who sits

Like Holding a Cup Beneath a Waterfall
We have all the content that we could ever need. It’s not content but context that matters.

“Love of Suffering” — a retreat, a migraine, and a saint
A few weeks ago, I made the drive from Charlottesville to Richmond to spend a couple days at a retreat center in downtown Richmond. This

The Joys & Challenges of Being Childfree
We live in a culture where we are, as women, are told not to trust our choices and our instincts unless it’s our maternal instinct.

Trump Is Not the Antichrist, But He May Be Preparing People to Welcome One
The dramatic line lets people dismiss the whole concern as fanaticism. The harder line asks what sort of soul our politics is producing.

Toward a Better Country
There have been many small deaths in my life. Moving away from our home in the country. Cutting my long hair. The final performance of

Cyrus the Messiah
Some of my Christian friends find a parallel between Cyrus and President Trump. Just as God used Cyrus, a pagan ruler, so God is using

Was Blind, but Now I (kind of) See
“Was blind, but now I see.” If only it were that simple. If only we went through life experiencing blindness (the problem), and then having

“Beauty will save the world.”
And changed people—people who are more attentive, more compassionate, more alive to what matters—are the ones who shape the world.