It's been more than 12 years since Mary Jo committed to a daily art project where she finds something in nature that inspires her. She says "the art of dailiness" has changed her so she is often in a state of creative noticing or deep play.

Bill reserved a hotel room for April 7 in Fort Smith, Arkansas almost a year ago. Eight hours away. Because it was on the edge of The Path of Totality.

I wondered if that was a famous rock band.

No. It’s the last full solar eclipse in the United States until 2045.

Erin Nolen s one of the most intentional women I know. She's a wonderful photographer, writer, gardener, and "namer."  But she is also a wife, mother, and friend who's done lots of internal work to be present with and see and advocate for her kids and others.

I learned a new word. 

Perseverate. 
 
To repeat something insistently or redundantly. To get stuck, to ruminate, to loop back over and over. And over.
 
As in, “My 91-year-old mother perseverated.” 
 
My mom passed away a year ago. But I’m still haunted by echoes of her three looping ruminations.

Beth Smith of Mudtown Pottery makes some of the most touchable, whimsical pottery. I asked her how she was drawn to pottery as an art form and what she wants to give to the world through it.

My bucket list has shortened as the years go by. Maybe no marathon or New York Times best-seller. But hold me to this goal: I want to keep clapping until the very end. I never, never want to lose the sense of wonder.

Pandemics. Politics, Social struggles. Global tragedies. These past years have felt unreal. But what has been most crazy making for me is the deep divisions in the Church. How can we find our way back to loving each other and our neighbors and seeking His Kingdom? I need reality checks: Scripture; honest, diverse community; prayer. I need to continually recalibrate back to the Christ revealed in Scripture.

Jonathan Rogers is a rare combination: a great writer who is able to teach and encourage others. He curates and encourages a community of people who write (and some who still choke over calling themselves "writers!') at The Habit Membership.

“If I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God.” Oswald Chambers

"Thou Shalt Not Postpone Joy"

That's one of my favorite phrases and no one paints and lives that out like Tricia Robinson. Her heart pours out in her painting.

Resilience is the willow tree of attributes. It flexes, stretches, and bends. The winds blow, failure hits, rejection hurts , loss and grief and disappointment happen. I can break, give up, or sway in the breeze and sink my roots deeper into God.

Ephesians is my heart book, where I grappled with the “believe it or not” truth of God’s love for me. This is the book where I caught the picture that it is through all of our individual puzzle pieces fitting together that we show Jesus Christ, God’s great Masterpiece, to the world.