I once stood in front of a faith community and invited someone to untangle a ball of yarn. They grinned and started pulling the string. To be fair, it was a brand new spool of yarn so this task was comically easy.
But a deeper truth awaited us inside that easy to unspool yarn.
We talked about curiosity. Why it matters that we’re invited to explore our lives — to unspool, untangle, unravel the stories that live inside each of us.
Read MoreToday you turn 40. When we were little, I thought 40 was old. Maybe it is. But my actual experience of it is far different than I’d imagined.
It feels like we’re just getting started, somehow.
Sure, our body has a few wrinkles and sore muscles. The food I eat actually affects how I feel. But I’m still here. And after this year, that’s a big deal.
Read MoreI didn’t recognize my voice last night. And I think it was a good thing.
I logged into Zoom and two new friends popped up on the screen. It was time to share part of my story of transitioning out of ministry in the local church and into what’s next.
Read More“Where’s that picture of Jeremy and I in the chair at the Soldotna house?”
No one could find it. I needed that photo.
My brother and I were six years apart. We weren’t close enough in age to be everyday playmates. But we had something no one else had. We bookended the family. The oldest and the youngest of four kids.
Read MoreI dipped my toes in the cold lake water on a late March Sunday afternoon. A few tears escaped as I thought about some pain I’d been holding.
The laughter of two young boys rang through the air. Glancing to the left, I saw four feet laying on the dock with attached heads and hands splashing in the water. They looked to be brothers.
Read MoreI hated Easter this year.
Hated it.
Which let us be honest, doesn't feel like a popular thing to say out loud. Especially for someone whose been in a church every Easter for 39 years.
Read MoreMy 7-year-old son and I sat on a couch on the back porch at his grandparents' home in Florida. A breeze ruffled the palm trees and stingrays floated down the canal.
He looked over at me and said, “I hate being the smallest one in the family."
Read MoreI'm a writer. I love putting words together to paint a picture of a new perspective or story. It's magic and love when these words meet truth in you. I adore the power of words.
But I hate this sentence: My brother died five weeks ago.
Read More"Pastor Jenny and her family have discerned it’s time to transition from ministry at Edmonds United Methodist Church into extension ministry. She will go on personal leave February 1, 2022."
So many of our seasons of discernment happen in the quiet and unseen places of life. While we wrestle with deep life-altering questions, people around us move along as if all is well.
Read MoreNo one could see my lips quiver behind my mask. They’d have to look close to see the tears gathering in the corner of my eyes.
I sat at a cafeteria table at a local high school as I watched each family begin their 15 minutes of waiting after their children received their second Covid-19 vaccine.
Read MoreMy son bounced up to me with a blank piece of paper in his hands. He grinned and put it in my lap. "Mom, I made you this!" I smiled as only a parent can when given something that makes no sense but is filled with such excitement. I lean in and give him a side hug while exclaiming gratitude for the blank and slightly wrinkled piece of paper.
Read MoreEver since I entered ministry as a profession, I've heard leaders speak into microphones, "the United Methodist Church is dying." They bemoaned decreasing numbers, declining engagement and we felt the desperation in the air. The topic came up at most meetings for years. And the subtle undertone was, "New pastors, especially you young ones, you're up. Can you save this thing?"
Read MoreWe scampered around a beautiful park on Saturday. Blue skies and changing leaves danced with the sounds of a birthday party and shrieking kids riding down the slide. My beloved mom, my two children, and I walked a trail, climbed a tree, and explored a rock labyrinth.
I looked over to see my nine-year-old daughter shaking a branch to get a few leaves to fall. I smiled and said aloud, "They may not be ready to fall." She shook the branch anyway.
Read MoreHonest truth?
I want someone with authority to shut down the world again. Eighteen months into this pandemic and the 2020 trauma stuck in my body is shouting at me to retreat. To clear my calendar. To set up camp on Zoom. To order groceries again. To keep my unvaccinated kids home. To lockdown.
Read MoreWhat invitations are challenging you lately?
Which ones intrigue you?
Which ones shimmer with some kind of holy?
That might be your deep water.
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