August 17, 2023

Lessons from Winter: Perfection, Take 2

Personal best, not perfection. ~Bethany Faircloth The best is the enemy of the good. ~Voltaire And God saw that it was good . . . ~ Genesis This is my umpteenth attempt at this blog . . . a blog on perfectionism. In a series on lessons taken from sabbatical….

August 3, 2023

Lessons from Winter: Prologue

A colleague of mine posted this image back in January. I took a screenshot and stuck it in my favorites folder because it truly resonated with me. At the time, I knew I would write around the image. What I didn’t realize was that it would be a series. …

July 27, 2023

Year Twenty-nine

I always blog on our anniversary. This, I suppose, is obvious, as I am clearly thinking about marriage, our marriage, and the nature of intimate relationships. And I am, as always, grateful for my spouse and our partnership. As I’ve mentioned…

October 14, 2022

Best Friends

“We will be friends until forever, just you wait and see.” – Winnie the Pooh I did not marry my best friend. Did you? For many of my couples, yes. They happily say they are marrying their best friend. I love that. I think it is likely more common to…

September 1, 2022

Everything is Hard

Everything is hard. That is my mantra these days. I acknowledge that, perhaps, it is not the best mantra. But I am not known among family and friends for being the perpetual ray of sunshine. Instead, I am known for my commitment to speaking the…

February 3, 2022

Don’t Forget Your Officiant

It’s engagement season. Which means wedding planning begins in earnest for many couples. Beautiful notebook planners are being purchased, budgets set, and timelines established. Well, here is a reminder as you launch into vendor interviews:…

January 21, 2022

White Cup, Silver Cup

I have spent the past few weeks laser-focused on rituals – what they are, why we have them, the whole nine yards. Why? Well, I am teaching a workshop on “non-churchy” rituals for colleagues at Phillips Seminary in Tulsa next week, and I sure want…