I’ve been wading in “the gray afternoon of the soul.” It’s not as dramatic as St. John of the Cross’ “Dark Night of the Soul.” It’s like being stuck in a thick fog with no light cutting through to show the way back to sunshine and simplicity. It’s been a season of aching over brokenness—my own, others, our polarized country and churches, and the horrors flashing on the nightly news

Beauty and brokenness are a package deal. If I live only in beauty, I live in denial. If I live only in brokenness, I live in despair. Beauty in the midst of brokenness is the cup of cold water, the hint of hope that there is more to come.

2. Life is bitter/sweet.

Hospitality is the most unseen but foundational of the arts . . .

All I could hear was Miracle Max’s voice from Princess Bride. Was the vine “mostly dead or all dead?”

InSpero hosted Kate Harris at a lunch where she spoke on calling and creativity. I loved her. But I also hated her because she stripped away all my excuses.

Is there one word to describe me? From having lived in seven states and Puerto Rico, to my seemingly unrelated academic degrees, to my housekeeping abilities, and thought process, it could be scattered.