Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

holidays

Saturday smiles: Life edition

Today, the sun is shining and the temperatures are in the 50s and feel like the 50s. Which means spring is drawing us outside.

I see and hear life, and I smile.

The highlights:

Talking to Isabelle while we’re outside with sidewalk chalk. Me: Isabelle can you draw me a picture of the clouds? Izzy: Well, I’m not very good at clouds, but I’ll try. (She then draws a cloud.) Izzy continues: I can draw a pteranodon. (Which she does. So, to clarify, not good at clouds but excellent at extinct animals. Got it.)

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Overhearing this in the living room. Phil, looking at something on the computer: “Son of a bee.” (His actual phrase. I did not censor.) Corban, immediately following, “Son of a bee?” Insert uproarious laughter from all parties. (Note to parents: watch what you say. They are listening. We’re still learning this.)

Receiving this awesome prize pack from author Dani Pettrey. Coffee, chocolate, books. I don’t win a lot of things, but this was one great prize.

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Isabelle wanting to go to the Good Friday service in town. I’m not sure it’s what she thought it was going to be, but we went because I want to encourage my kids’ faith. On the way out, a woman offered us some treats from her car, so we came home with cupcakes and squeeze tubes of orange gelatin (looks better than it sounds).

Signing another contract for an article I sold earlier this year and receiving a check for the other one.

Registering and planning for a marriage conference this summer. Phil and I are Nashville-bound in July. Woohoo!

And this:

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5 on Friday: Blog posts to challenge your Easter thinking

In the course of a week, I read a lot of stuff on the Internet. Here are some Holy Week related posts I found valuable to challenge my thoughts about celebrating Easter. blog note

  • Forget bunnies and chocolate, how about iPads and flat-screen TVs? This post by Eugene Cho raises the question: Is the Gospel enough?
  • This post by Jen Hatmaker made me cry. “What if we calculated the money we’d spend on new clothes, anything having to do with a bunny and chocolate, and used that investment for great good, pouring out for someone in need of mercy? Maybe instead of matching outfits from Dillards, we invest in family t-shirts benefiting someone’s adoption, someone’s mission for Christ. Perhaps rather than time and energy spent on ourselves, we ask: “Who can our family serve? Where can we put our hands and hearts to use in Jesus’ name?”  Who in your city desperately needs hope but won’t find their way to the sanctuary Sunday filled by people dressed to the nines?”
  • Sarah Bessey wrote this post which challenged me to a life less full, especially during Holy Week. “And I think we need more theologians with a poet’s heart: a little imagination when we speak of God never hurts.  The best art leaves a bit of silence, room on the edges, for interpretation and response. It is often in the white space of art where I find the Holy Spirit, hovering, stirring, waiting.”
  • And this one, by Rachel Held Evans, is for those who show up on Easter with more questions than answers.
  • This last one isn’t an Easter post, specifically, but it’s one I read recently that I can’t get out of my head. It’s by Preston and is posted over at A Deeper Story. A mixture of beauty in the mess of life. A story of the Eucharist. (WARNING: Contains language some might find offensive. But it’s used purposefully.)

What have you read on the Web lately, Easter related or not?