Well-Read Mom
I have found myself wallowing in pity lately. I have found myself screaming to God, “Why me? Why can’t you let up? Why do we have to have one legitimate trauma after another?” I have found myself trying to reason with God, believing the maxim that what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, but telling God that I think I am plenty strong enough for the time being; thank you very much. And then I picked up True Grit, and I met Mattie Ross.
Read More
How do people find hope in the face of flagrant cruelty or disdain? The answer, as the ten Booms poignantly and concretely discovered, is found in the One Who endured the greatest suffering of all.
Read More
This book appears on my Top 10 list. It’s just plain fun. And how often do I allow myself to read for pure pleasure?
Read More
We are a lonely culture that values “being rebellious” over true, deep happiness and fulfillment. Really, it all boils down to pride, yes? But truly, I need people. I always have and always will need people—and there is true freedom in following something proposed in love.
Read More
Reading the same books together gives people a common language with which to facilitate broader discussions. It builds culture and community.
Read More
And while there is nothing wrong with wanting to avoid sin and seek spiritual perfection, if not motivated more by the love of God than by personal pride, we can vitally miss the point. “The Practice of the Presence of God,” by Brother Lawrence—a 17th-century Discalced Carmelite who offered spiritual direction to others through his counsel and writings—emphasizes the importance of serving God in trust and love rather than cowering before him in fear and inadequacy.
Read More
When we encounter a poem that is challenging, we practice bearing the tension of not understanding and approach it with humility and wonder.
Read More
“Everything is gift.” The theme of last year’s Well-Read Mom conference for the Year of the Giver seemed perfect. The idea sounds so beautiful. And yet still, I sometimes wonder, is everything a gift?
Read More
Listening to my husband read aloud “Two Old Men” to me and our children was one of my sweetest memories of 2022. And this introduction to Tolstoy led me to read Anna Karenina, my favorite book of 2023. This story of two old men, with all its beautiful lessons about pilgrimage, true worship, hospitality, and corporal works of mercy, seemed to me a story about motherhood and being a stay-at-home mom.
Read More
Women who live with wonder have a unique ability to impact their surroundings; they are the ones who create an environment in which people can thrive. Children are good at reminding us to see. Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s Little Prince teaches the narrator, “It is only with the heart that one sees rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eyes.”
Read More