House on the Rock

  I’m here in Creative Writing Club, a small club I sponsor where 12-15 teenagers sit in a circle and write about whatever prompt we vote on that day. This week’s special is “What does your future look like?” So blog world, meet creative writing club. In the future I picture having a bit of a limp, possibly from that 13.1-mile marathon when I barely trained because I had signed up for it two years prior when I was in tip top shape - the shape of my life - only to have two Covid-postponed setbacks that found me in 2022, with one month left in my first year of teaching and more bound to pounds than I had ever been before. It was the year I tried to go on walks after school but also comfort-ate frozen pizzas by the triple stack and sat on the couch from dinner to dusk. We tried the Whole30 but didn’t make it nearly long enough to see measurable differences or really feel fit, plus I was more angry and more than ever, aware of my dependence on food for joy. So anyway, there’s the limp....

There's an Instagram challenge floating around where people are posting a picture with five of their favorite things listed as the caption. I'm taking a temporary insta hiatus (for reasons I might describe in a future post) but I also feel like writing. It's been a few full-speed weeks of hustle and I think it might be healing for me to write a similar caption, only in blog form. I always love looking back on fads I fancied at a certain point in time, so here's another one for the archive: 1. The promise of Spring. Cue Chris Renzema's Springtime on full blast as I drive with windows down and the heat all the way up. It's still not warm enough to really be comfortable outside, but it's warm enough to pretend, and perhaps in so doing we'll will spring into existence. I've also been really drawn to the metaphor of new life dawning; the resurrection of all things that comes after a season of darkness and death. It's no wonder Easter is celebrated in ...

Some days I feel very much like writing with nothing much to say at all. That is a  little bit true of today, although I am reflecting on a lesson learned that has overwhelmingly helped my mornings become the highlight of my  day. I am stretching by all measures to avoid sounding self-righteous, and want to fervently remind myself and my readers that this is a  miraculous extension of God's grace, nothing I am able to do by my own power. It's also helpful if I first point out  my sinfulness. Reflecting all the way back to Christmas break, my spiritual life has been a season of drought. Busyness breeds callousness; winter makes my soul sad and slow to see God's splendor; and I oftentimes find myself using devotionals as nothing more than a break from grading or lesson planning. Our small group got a new devotional book and I thought, "this will change everything!" only to find that I didn't connect with the author's writing style and the devotional left me ...

Rumors of a winter storm were creeping into every conversation and newscast; emails about E-learning permeated our inboxes and students and teachers alike grew quite hopeful that this snowstorm would actually surmount. The crazy thing about Indiana is they could predict 1 inch and we'd get 30; they might encourage us to hunker down for nothing but a meager frost.  Much to our surprise and excitement, the phone call came on Tuesday evening: School is closed. We packed up our Settlers of Catan board and headed to Ross and Reyna's, thankful that 8pm on a Tuesday was no longer a school night. Reyna pulled off a surprising "dub" with a last-minute Victory Card pickup and we celebrated with Steak 'N Shake milkshakes, eagerly anticipating whatever weather may come.  Strangely, Wednesday brought a warm rain akin to early April days. It rained and rained, so much that puddles flooded into rivers that ran Nile-like toward the parking lot drain. "It'll freeze,"...

The prosperity gospel is without a doubt one of the most toxic and dangerous false doctrines of our day. The idea that God exists to give people health, wealth, and prosperity lies in stark contradiction to the saints of old who endured beatings, being stoned, brutal imprisonment, banishment, and battling for their lives. It does not align with the picture of Jesus, who was sent to earth, falsely accused, beaten, mocked, and crucified. Time and time again, Scripture tells stories of people who committed their lives to God and lost everything as a result. Of course, God is not a genie who only grants health and wealth. If we buy into that lie, we will immediately turn away from Him the second that our health fails or our bank account declines. It's dangerous. But I think an equally dangerous ditch to fall into is the idea that God just doles out pain and suffering and doesn't want us to be well. Sometimes I work so hard to remind myself that life isn't all about being health...

 The turn  of the new year brought about a massive change for my husband and I.  After months of indulging, going out to eat, gorging ourselves full of pizza and donuts from school functions and rewarding ourselves on weekends with burgers  and tacos, we were feeling awful. We were exhausted, unhealthy, unwell, unenergized, and experiencing other symptoms related to a perpetually unclean diet. My extremities had become fields of psoriasis, and sleep often escaped me due to excessive sugar intake. So, we decided to do the Whole30. Whole30, for those wise enough to not do it,  is not meant to  be a lifelong diet, but rather a 30-day palate cleanser that allows  your  body to decide what  works  well inside  of it and what does not. You eliminate all foods that aren't natural and  all foods that might trigger abnormal bodily reactions. Among the plethora atop the no-list, you'll see dairy, grains, legumes, alcohol, any processed o...

 2021 has certainly been a year for the record books. There have been higher highs and lower lows than probably any year before it. I think this is my fourth annual recap blog. I was a sophomore in college the first time I wrote one, and oh how much has changed. While last year was the year of the valley, this year felt a lot more like the year of the peak. But I had absolutely no idea what a grueling, tiring climb it would be - how desperately I would have to cling to the Rock of Ages - in order to reach that peak. A Year in Review January was a month full of wedding planning. I moved back into Taylor for the first time since March of 2020, where I lived in an apartment with Megan, Reyna, and Audrey, enjoyed morning trips to the gym, long afternoons in the Admissions Office, and tons and tons of reading with my tiny but mighty English capstone class. I visited Joe on the weekends to talk about our honeymoon and wedding colors, and we relished in the excitement of our fast-approach...

I think I finally found a summary of my year. Just like every year, I'll write a post which recaps many moments big and small, but yesterday I heard a simple phrase which brought a sort of closure. A synthesis, if you will.  I was walking a loop around Cool Creek Park - the conveniently-placed nature center directly across from our apartment - with Alex Francis. It's a concrete lap surrounding trees and trails that measures exactly one mile, strangely akin to the loop that borders Taylor U. Despite only living here for six months, I've probably walked close to 70 miles around this park. There are days I've done four to five laps, simply because there's something so healing about the strangely-placed serenity of woods and streams centered directly in the fast-growing suburb of Westfield. I told Alex of the way Joe and I frequent this park for runs and walks, but lately have found it hard to push ourselves. The park, after all, is quite hilly, and the moment my legs s...

 I remember being about six months into my relationship with Joe and thinking that nothing in the world could possibly make me happier than being engaged to him. I Pinterest-saved every ring I saw; I dreamed of our wedding day; I made lists of all the details on every scrap piece of paper. In my mind, nothing would beat that feeling. December 5, 2021 was the one-year anniversary of our engagement. And yet, by the grace of God, the same day one year later far surpassed even the most joyous excitement of his proposal. My sweet love was baptized at Castleview Church - a day full of excitement, tears, celebration, and praising God. I never, ever want to forget it. He'd been thinking about getting baptized for about a year. He did it at his home church when he was twelve, but mostly because his friends were and it was the natural next step after his confirmation class. The Lord continued to stir his heart toward that public declaration of faith, and by the fall of this past year, the st...

Last year I wrote a post about turning twenty-two, with a few tendencies still trickling over from twenty-one and some from years before that. I'll turn twenty-three on Wednesday, and I'll have to sit cross-legged in front of my small group, Bubbly in one hand, Bible in the other, and I'll blush from the birthday song and answer the birthday question: What is something you have learned in the past year? In the spirit of anti-procrastination (and frankly not wanting to look a fool), I thought I'd start brainstorming. A week ago, I was turning across traffic from 146th to 131st in Carmel, one hand on the wheel, one hand picking microwaveable Healthy Choice Meal Chicken Pesto out of my still-gappy teeth. The dentist told me my wisdom teeth would come in and push all my teeth together so I wouldn't need braces, but I'm fully wisdom-toothed and alas, no movement. As I took a risky turn and nearly found myself T-boned by a suburban mom in her Suburban XL, I sighed. I ...