In Gennesaret

 I’ve been legally divorced for just over a year. The actual process of divorce took almost a year as well, and the decision to divorce was weighing on me for another year before that. Three years, friends. Three years with about a million and a half decisions I had to make. Some of those decisions were immensely consequential (Is it time to file – am I sure I’m done?). Some were relatively trivial but still exhausting (Which dishes do I keep? Curtains in the bedroom or just blinds? Buy new socks or sew up the holes in the ones I have?). But the accumulation of choice after choice after stinkin’ choice made every choice on the table terribly difficult. By the end of 2020, I was so done. I was ready to fake insanity and let the state take care of me. Of course, all these decisions wouldn’t have been nearly as hard if I wasn’t so concerned with making the right decisions. Because I believed that there was always a right choice and a wrong choice – that God had one direction he w...

On a recent date night, my guy and I shared the stories of losing our parents. (Yes, I know – not exactly a cheery topic for courtship repartee. That’s one of the things about dating at this age. You’ve got several decades of life experiences to catch each other up on: the good, the sad, the hilarious, the embarrassing . . .) So yeah, we talked about people dying. And then the next morning, I woke up to one of my favorite weekly emails in my inbox – “The Word Before Work” by Jordan Raynor. I love this guy. He writes about having a spiritual perspective on our work, and this particular email was talking about . . . well, about dying. In short, sin has ensured that nobody will ever finish the work they envision completing in their lifetime. . . We will all die with unfinished symphonies. Our to-do lists will never be completed. There will always be a gap between what we can imagine accomplishing in this life and what we can actually get done. Unfinished symphonies . . . what a love...

I spent five Thursday nights this summer in an adult improvisation class at Crystal Sea Drama Company. Thank you, Mike Dannelly – it was a joy. I love watching improv, but God did NOT grace me with the gift of spontaneity. As fun as it looked, I was afraid I would suck at it. But being a drama teacher, it behooves me to have some basic knowledge of the art. So, I signed up for the class. And I learned so stinkin’ much. One of the basic concepts behind improvisation is the “Yes . . . And”. When someone on your team takes a story in one direction, you respond with “Yes,” and then continue in that direction with “And”. Actor A : Look! There’s a spaceship landing on our front lawn! Actor B : Yes . . . and I bet they’re bringing Uncle Larry back! Oh, friends . . . this is a concept we need to apply to life. To ALL the things. YES! – Folks, we need to look for what we can say yes to. Say yes whenever possible. This is true in parenting: “Yes, you can pick what you wear today – w...