There’s something to be said about being in the kitchen and the melodic, tranquil nature of mixing things together to create something new. The whir of the mixer. The tap of measuring cups. The feel of dusting flour off your hands. And, who are we kidding, the taste of batter that you sneak just to make sure it tastes good.

After years of doing, it’s the being that I’m finally learning to focus on.

We must recognize and fight the lie that tells us connection is best when we are assimilated.

Here are some ideas to bring creativity to your friendships.

From the earliest days of my motherhood, the days of butterfly kicks in my uterus and aches in my back, I’ve had the overwhelming desire to teach my sons this one life skill.

There are good things for you to do today, friend, of this I am firmly sure, because your tasks don’t have to be Big and professionally important for them to matter.

My version of a simple life will look different than yours. My version of a simple life includes 400+ books contrasted with a wardrobe small enough to fit almost entirely in a carry-on suitcase. Yours might include 30 pairs of shoes and nary a book to be seen. One is not better than the other, because what simple looks like to me is different than what simple looks like to you.

Right now, we need to be creative. We need to be creative with our workdays and hanging out with friends and birthdays. We need to be creative with a tired Tuesday and another Friday night of takeout. We need to learn a new way to choose champagne even when it feels like there is not ever a reason to. We need to find places to sing after the musicals we were in got canceled and reasons to dance because Shipoopi might never see the stage.

I am not and never will claim to hold all of the magical tools to positive communication, and I am a big proponent of continued learning. I do wholeheartedly believe, though, that by practicing the act of acknowledging, you will reap the benefits of more open, honest, and authentic communication in your conversations and relationships with others. And, who doesn’t want some of these in their life?! Here are just a few ways the act of acknowledging can transform your relationships and future interaction.

In less-than-ideal seasons, it’s practically effortless to focus on the bad, on all the ways this season isn’t what we want or hope. But there are a few things my new job and season have reminded me of that are better responses to a less-than-ideal season.

Hard feelings look different for everyone. For some, it’s paralyzing; you feel like your brain is put on pause from too many thoughts flying around. For some, it can manifest as physiological symptoms: headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, insomnia.

Several years ago I experienced the most pain I’d ever endured in my life. The kind of pain that envelops you, holds you just under the water while you gasp for air. It wasn’t a single incident, rather a series of events over the course of several years. My world felt like it had crashed in around me, and I knew my heart would never be the same.

And the best gift we can give is the gift of our willing and open selves in friendship.

Today, I’m sharing from my personal experience with Arabic, to encourage you to try out language learning and suggest some tools that have helped me. This post is mainly meant for monolingual English speakers in the U.S., but if you’re already bilingual or multilingual, or speak a different native language, I hope it can still be helpful!

We are never just one thing. Our identity is made up of hundreds of puzzle pieces. The bigger picture never stops growing. Every single day we continue adding to it because it demonstrates our story.

The month of August taught me how to say goodbye to the Everyday People.

Answer this question: Am I willing to do some unlearning and re-learn how to create a new narrative in my thought-life? If the answer is yes, keep reading.

As someone who’s dealt with anxiety for nearly a decade, I wish people in the Church had a better understanding of it because they often view it incorrectly and cause harm as a result.

Reading no longer fits this world. Because it requires a certain level of removal from society, I am stuck within the possibility of being caught unaware of danger, calamity, or breaking news updates. With the world pressing in on itself, I feel I no longer have the option to create the silence, space, or time it takes to read.

I stopped going to church several years ago. It wasn’t that we’d had a falling out. We just moved several times in as many years and never found a home church like the one we’d left.