Today, I’m pleased to share with you a book from my friend, Alexandra Kuykendall, called ‘The Artist’s Daughter.’ Alexandra was kind enough to send me a copy of the book in exchange for a copy of mine. Two barriers initially stood between me and the book. First, I’m not much of a memoir reader. I think I have about one one my shelf. Two, I’m not really at the center of the target audience. Despite that, I enjoyed the book and I think you should check it out. Alexandra was kind enough to answer a few questions to help you get a sense of what it’s all about.
I’ve made no secret about it…
We want kids.
I’ve written about it a few times, about the club we unexpectedly found ourselves in as more and more friends became “un-childless.” My moods have ranged from anxious to depressed to hopeful to patient, but never angry or jealous of people with kids of their own.
Navigating toward parenthood is a stormy sea when nature just doesn’t want to take it’s course. For many of you, this may one of those situations that it seems dang near impossible to come up with the right words to say to friends who are struggling, grieving or even a little bit secretly jealous of your kids.
While I probably can’t tell you the perfect words to say in any situation, I can definitely help steer you clear of a few common encouragements that actually discourage your childless friends. Take my advice, especially for the sake of your friends who are more sensitive than I am.
People say a lot of things about God.
Sometimes, people say good things about God. But an awful lot of what is said about Him is misinformation, slanderous, flaming, blaming, offensive, ranting, blasphemous, infantile or just whiny. Really, God’s reputation is attacked every day as He gets way more blame than He deserves, and probably far too little credit.
And when slanderous things are said about God, there will never be any shortage of people to defend God, to argue, to picket, to protest in righteous indignation, to tell us what God thinks and how God feels.
If any of us got to be personally attacked liked that day after day, we’d feel pretty lousy. But I think God’s silence in the face of perpetual attack and blame is one of His most instructive attributes.
These are four things God’s silence has to teach us when it comes to defending ourselves, our reputation and our faith.
Yesterday, for the first time ever, I’m proud to say I published an article at Relevant Magazine. I hope you’ll take a look at it over there after the little preview!
There’s no shortage of statistics and sociologists bemoaning the trend of Millennials dragging their feet into adulthood. The condescending label of “extended adolescence” has been slapped on to many a Millennial who is prolonging their years in school, living in their parents’ basement, putting off marriage and shrugging off financial independence and responsibility.
The world says, “Grow up already!” But staying a kid at heart is the path to spiritual fulfillment.
Probably like most of you, I spent much of my childhood wishing I could just skip ahead to whatever was next, because whatever was next always seemed better. And here I am today, still wishing I could fast-forward to the next event, the next accomplishment, the next whatever.
But when we start hitting our twenties and beyond, many young adults fear that they have somehow “failed to launch.” Maybe it’s being stuck in a lousy job or still being financially dependent on their parents or still being single. Maybe we’re doing OK, but we just believed that we should be uber-successful by age 23. Essentially, many people wish they could just grow up already. You know, fast-forward to the good stuff.
Continue to find five childlike qualities we ought to keep, even as adults at Relevant Magazine.
The thing about monsters is that they don’t hide in closets or under beds like we thought.
They hide in plain sight.
Think about it. Monsters stay well hidden not because they live in the dark, but because they are masters of disguise. They build ordinary looking lives. They hide in workplaces, in churches, neighborhoods and civic clubs. They live in plain daylight with you and me and everyone is so surprised when they are found out. They are always the person everyone least suspected.
Kermit Gosnell hid in plain sight for a while before he was caught. He built a halfway house for people trying to get clean from drugs and a teen aid program. He was an upstanding citizen in his community.
So, what if you found out that some respected citizen and professing Christian at your church turned out to be a monster in disguise? Continue Reading…
I think if I had another life, I’d be a critic.
I could be a food critic because I love food. Or a film critic. That sounds like a good gig. I already eat, watch movies, and criticize things, so it would make sense to just go ahead and get paid for it.
But above everything I like to critique, there is one thing I have habitually criticized for most of my life.
Myself.
Yes, I am a relentless self-critic and a lifelong perfectionist. And not only will I never get paid to be a critic of myself, being a self-critic is something I’m finally trying to let go of.
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