Editor’s Note: This year (2016), Advent starts on Sunday, November 27! Thus, the Advent season is quite a bit longer than usual. Our guide has readings for 24 days, but Advent will last for nearly a month, so you may want to space the readings out a little more than usual. From the Bible –…
Editor’s Note: This year (2016), Advent starts on Sunday, November 27! I love celebrating Christmas, and I love almost every Christmas tradition I’ve ever met. But once I had children of my own, I realized the idea of Santa Claus was eclipsing the joyous miracle of Jesus’ arrival among us. This made me feel decidedly…
Sometimes I approach the writing of book reviews like a journalist: balanced, disinterested, with no agenda beyond illuminating the story so that readers can decide for themselves whether or not to try the book. With this review of Ember Falls, though, I can’t pretend any of those things. I want to convince everyone – except…
Is childhood preparation for adulthood, or a magical time of life to be savored? Reading variously across that great font of wisdom known as The Internet, I’ve found most parenting “experts” fall into one of two camps: Camp Preparation, or Camp Magic. Camp Preparation has little time for fluffy foolishness about enjoying the endearing foibles…
I wrote this a couple of years ago, and shared it here. As this winter turns more drab and grey than white, and spring hovers tantalizingly just out of sight, I thought it might be a good time to dust it off for another reminder. – JDW I graduated from a small liberal arts college,…
Think about your favorite movie. Now think about the point in that movie where the main character is at his or her lowest point. Maybe it’s Rocky, bruised and battered, swaying on his feet – staggering but still upright. Maybe it’s Elinor Dashwood, cruelly treated by envious women who only pretend friendship. Now notice something…
Someone told me the hardest part of her move to New York City was adjusting to the endless smorgasbord of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Every night was a chance to see an amazing play, an exotic band, a peerless exhibition. In order to grocery shop, to pay bills, to sleep, wonderful things had to be foregone. Staying…
Is it hard for you to praise your children’s work without adding a bit of constructive criticism at the end? It is for me. I usually sound like this: “You cleaned your room? Good job, it looks so much better. Except for the stuffed unicorn butt sticking out from under the bed – just put that…
When I was about fourteen, friends of the family unexpectedly gifted me a week with a summer backpacking camp. We were to hike every day, sleep in tents, cook outdoors, and end miles from where we started. This was the first time my dad offered me his collection of hiking and backpacking books to read….
The story of Genesis opens with the protagonist (God) overflowing with love and creativity. Then the villain, in a devastating opening move, convinces the story’s love interest (mankind) that the protagonist does not truly love her, and that she – not he – should be the center of the story. Now, as members of that…
Everyone knows that kids say – and do – the darnedest things. To have children is to be a connoisseur of shenanigans. And while sometimes hilarious, these childish hijinks are not always wise, or constructive, or even kind. Faced with the fallout of some of my children’s unregulated creativity, I’ve often said something like, “I…
In 2012, my wife and I attended a gospel-and-arts conference improbably named “Hutchmoot.” While there, I was struck by the absence of an attitude I’ve experienced nearly everywhere else. At length, this attitude goes something like, “We carry the world’s best music everywhere we go. We download the great books at will, and read them…
