I am Edmund.

We all know the story. There were four children named Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy who were sent to live in the country in a large manor. The youngest, Lucy, stumbles upon a magic wardrobe that opens into a strange land blanketed with snow that is called Narnia. She returns, tells her siblings, and none of them believe her.

Photo from Tampa Bay Times' archives.
 Image property of Disney, 2005.

Later, Edmund manages to follow her through the wardrobe and discovers the place for himself. Only, instead of meeting the hospitable faun Mr. Tumnus, Edmund encounters the White Witch. She gives him enchanted Turkish delight and a hot drink and uses false promises to lure him into a plot of betrayal: to bring his siblings to her the next time he comes to Narnia.

give thanks

"Eucharist [thanksgiving] is the state of the perfect man. Eucharist is the life of paradise. Eucharist is the only full and real response of man to God's creation, redemption, and gift of heaven."
-Alexander Schmemann

I am working through Ann Voskamp's book One Thousand Gifts: a Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are which my mentor gave me a few months ago. I'm only a little way into the book, but it is very powerful. (I cried through the entire first chapter.)

If, like me, you've made cynicism into a shield you carry between yourself and the world, perhaps you might consider picking up a copy?

Northwest Christian Writers Renewal 2013 - a personal recap

Have you ever noticed how easily we tune ourselves out? I know that in some cases, it's incredibly beneficial to silence our inner critic, but sometimes, we end up shutting down our deepest desires at the same time because we think, "Such and such isn't practical."

So we take those activities that we enjoy and shove them into a hobbies box, running the risk of forgetting all about them. If writing (or painting, or playing the cello, or tap dancing, or gardening, or--you fill in the blank) is merely a hobby, it is easy to prioritize something else on top of that or to equate it with other hobbies like watching Netflix or surfing the internet for cat .gifs. (Guilty...)