I’ve heard Christians talk about this time of self-quarantine as a Sabbath, and though I believe this sentiment is well-intentioned, there are many reasons to make it impossible to think of it as such. The Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments: Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor […]
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Out of Place Series: Jenny Lynne’s Story At the check-in desk, my escort to the administration offices asked why I was visiting the building. I told him I was there for an interview for the for the position of “Outreach Coordinator.” He gave me a quick once over and asked, “You done a lot of […]
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In the spring of 2000, I sat with fifteen of my classmates in our twelfth grade Church History class, listening to Mr. Jones talk about early Christian monks. As we learned more about the monastic traditions of our desert fathers and mothers, he mentioned offhandedly how interesting it might be to try and live as […]
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It seems that our world has changed overnight, and we are now living in an alternate reality. Schools, churches, and businesses have closed for an indeterminate amount of time. Everything is uncertain, causing widespread anxiety. We are facing a crisis that no living being has encountered before and we grope in the dark, trying to […]
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Back in the olden days, you wore black to show you were in mourning over a lost loved one. These days, there is no signifier we wear to show the world we are grieving. We may disappear from the public arena for a while but eventually, we need groceries, and to earn a paycheck, and […]
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Desert plants thrive in the desert. Tropical plants thrive in the tropics. Wildflowers thrive in the forest. But have you ever felt like a palm tree among pines? A bird of paradise among roses? Have you ever been transplanted to foreign soil, unsure if your roots will ever grow deep enough for you to thrive? […]
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Earlier this month, I drove 95 miles to a speaking engagement up in Orange County. I plugged my phone into my car’s stereo system and listened to a podcast with the occasional interruption from Google Maps. Eighty miles into my road trip and I pressed the “OFF” button on the car radio. I needed space […]
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Growing up as a missionary kid in France had its perks, and the local bakery (or boulangerie) was one of them. In the front counter space of our nearest boulangerie were pastries of all sorts—elegant creations low on sugar and high on butter. Bins lining the wall boasted candy you could purchase by the gram—my […]
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I used to be able to watch the news. I could stomach the tragedies and injustices around the world with sorrow held out at arm’s length. But something happened on the day my first baby was born: my heart turned to glass. The nurse laid him against my chest, and his warm softness made me […]
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When we first took our cat to the vet, he told us to keep her nails clipped. Mowgli, our half-feral kitten who had come galloping out of a patchy swamp in the country woods, was affectionate but not cooperative. Call it her independent streak or chalk it up to her wild roots, but anytime we […]
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Sarah K. Butterfield 