EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s a McCarty ClassicTM from 2018 that we might all need to read again. I’ve been fortunate the past ten years or so since I started teaching in Bloomfield, New York, my morning commute takes me essentially due east. So, for the first few months of the year and the last few months…
To carry is to do something beautiful and intentional. We carry ourselves in a certain way, hung on a certain frame, approaching each new moment and face and place from a certain point, with a certain deposit of grace. We carry the ones we love through seasons of pain – in hugs and in hands…
There’s something about an empty church sanctuary. In the absence of Sunday morning busyness, you can better feel what it is at its heart. A place meant for safety, and holiness. A place meant to elevate us beyond the stresses and trials of everyday life, to remind us that we are loved, abundantly welcome, and…
As I thought over my favorite book/illustrator combos, stories and images came to my mind. Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White, was the first. What more could you want for a cover than the cobweb bedecked title, with little Charlotte hanging from it? There is Wilbur clutched in the protective arms of Fern, looking timid, sweet,…
In my job as proprietor of The Habit Membership, I hear from a lot of mothers who find it exceedingly hard to get creative work done. This is a letter of encouragement to those mothers. (If you aren’t a mother, feel free to read anyway; you might even pass this letter on to a mother in your…
EDITOR’S NOTE: This very important essay first appeared on Story Warren in 2013, and it’s high time we re-visited it. I wish I could remember how many times your father has read the Narnia books to you. During those slow years when you still had time to crawl up into a lap and listen, you…
Sometimes, if my camera is not nearby, I take a mental snapshot in the hope I might remember. Through the Point d’Esprit lace of my bedroom window curtains, I could see them, four stair-step children hauling our biggest Radio Flyer wagon to the pasture behind the house. Our oldest son was lugging the wagon by its…
Chivalry has gradually disappeared from our culture. It’s time to bring it back. What does it mean to be a man? Unfortunately, men are consistently defined by how tough they are, how much money they make, and how successful they are with women. You don’t need to look any further than to current superhero movies…
Recent events threaten our grasp of the true and the lovely, and with it, our encouragement of our kids. Riots seethe on the streets. Some of us grieve loved ones lost; others, the crumbling of dreams we’ve spent decades nurturing. Our hands ache to pass the peace, but connect only with alcohol-based sanitizers. In such…
God is our refuge and strength, we will not be afraid. These things are true even in a season of widespread global suffering. Humans, sustained by faith in the living God, have a great capacity to do hard things with grit and grace.
Six years ago, my wife Patty was searching for ideas for our oldest daughter’s tenth birthday party. She wanted the day to be full of memories, but she knew she had limitations. We can often feel that limitations crush creativity, but in reality they are one of the greatest factors that help to foster it….
“Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” C.S. Lewis There are moments when someone slaps us on the back and says “good job.” There are times that a smiling person sincerely says, “Thank you”. There are occasions when we are awarded or even honored, but there are many more occasions…
