Dear Church, Now’s not the time to lose your focus. If there are poor among you-- brokenhearted, lonely, sick, rejected, fearful, ashamed, abused, tormented (and, yes, the polar icecaps are still melting and microplastics compromising our sea life)-- and all your thoughts are not for them, you’re distracted by the non-essentials. Jesus was never distracted. [...]
Creating a Welcoming Seat for Her at the Table: 3 Principles for Empowering Women to Lead
Having been in upper management leadership positions for nearly 20 years, over half of which have been as a lead pastor, it’s not uncommon for male leaders and pastors to ask me what they can do to better empower women to serve in leadership roles. I love getting this question because it shows the progress [...]
Birthing Hope
If You had asked me for my opinion beforehand... I would have reminded You that it wasn't part of the plan. That at 40 years of living, I wasn't as strong as I used to be. That at 20 years of loving and growing, me and him had covered that ground. I would have reminded [...]
Glory and Garden Days
A handful of years ago, I came across the Ignatian practice of holy indifference. The pursuit of holy indifference desires nothing more than for the will of God to emerge in any given situation. It is the laying down of my agenda, my fear, my desires, and all of my great ideas in order to [...]
Raising Black in White
Maybe you've seen me before? Maybe it was in the coffee shop helping my children decide between juice or chocolate milk, or maybe it was in the produce aisle asking them what they would like me to make for dinner? Could've been in the park swinging them until my arms ached, or pulling them by [...]
The one word every child needs to hear and say…
My heart is satiated when the world reflects back to my children the great worth I find in them... Eyes widening with delight at the sight of their favorite home-cooked meal. Little arms and legs finding warmth under thick blankets atop beds littered with their beloved stuffed animal friends. Intuitive teachers taking notice of something little that [...]
Just Like Hers
I have to remind myself that the human capacity to love is universal. That the depths to which the heart ignites and burns is a shared, God-breathed condition. Because when I see the pictures the pictures of those breathless babes lain upon dirt and rock washed upon shore cradled in tears bloodied by hate the [...]
Love Her First
My daughter told me plainly that she loved me, but that she could not be in my family. “I don’t look like you.” The warmth of her hand tightly grasped mine in the cool of night. “You have peach skin. I have brown skin.” We crossed the busy city street. “You can’t be my mom.” [...]
An open poem on behalf of moms and dads who wait…
After a long week filled with long conversations with foster-to-adopt moms and dads who are longing for adoption day, I wrote this. It's a window into the bedtime routine of a parent who waits. While You Are Sleeping While you are sleeping Steady breaths fill the air I stop and pause and wait a moment [...]
Journey On
I breathed with that baby. I breathed with her right out of my womb. Months to days and days to hours and hours to minutes and minutes to seconds. Life growing and giving in unison. Life’s rhythm took me by the hand. It guided me through. Branches. Leaves. Thorns. Sweat beaten brow. Body aching, wrenching, [...]
Abigail Aldrich Gaines 