Lent arrives via ashes, but Easter bursts on the scene with raucous joy. Easter shatters the heavy sorrow and insists we hear the bold assertion: gloom, sin, injustice and despair have been trampled under the feet of a victorious, resurrected Jesus. Time to rise up and move out. This is incredibly good news for those of us who will have it. We are...

You know you’re in the rhythm of motherhood when you’re sitting at the symphony listening to the plucking of violin strings, and you start picturing a sequence from a Tom and Jerry cartoon. My husband and I were still breathless when the first piece started, “The Warriors” by Percy Grainger. We had gobbled down a drive-thru dinner, whisked our...

She hummed a song to us in Dutch, and I listened with my elbows on the table, to this woman with sterling silver hair. We were there, young moms and grandmothers, gathered around round tables with coffee mugs and plates of squares, learning from each other. It felt like Mary at the feet of Jesus, and we were asking them questions like "How did you teach...

Years ago, I worked for the government as a staff attorney. I trudged in and out every day with my lunch box in hand like a hamster on a sterile, metal wheel. It was solid, steady work, and I was grateful for it. But I wondered if I’d ever break out of my office with no windows to find personal fulfillment, or if I was destined to always write lengthy...