The Warren & the World is Story Warren’s weekly newsletter, providing a round-up of our favorite things from around the web as well as a review of what was on our site over the past week. We’re glad you’re here!
Around the Web:
Don’t Give Up
There’s a Sleeping at Last song titled, “You Are Enough” that punches me in the gut every time I hear it. The chorus is quite simple: it repeats the words of the title and then says, “These little words, somehow they’re changing us.” It is remarkable to me the effect that simply hearing those words, “You are enough,” over and over can change my whole outlook on life. Sometimes, when I turn to Scripture, I feel like I’m running into the same phenomena: every page I turn seems to say the same thing. “God is love,” “I am the LORD,” “You are my people, I am your God.” These phrases are found, word for word and idea for idea, throughout the pages. Another one, Jon Bloom reminds us at the Desiring God blog, is “Don’t give up.”
- Living by faith in “things not seen” is hard (Hebrews 11:1). Jesus reminds us: “the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:14). But the way has always been hard, and you are not alone in the difficulty. You are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses who have passed this way ahead of you (Hebrews 12:1). Many have suffered far more and have remained faithful. Remember them and imitate their faith (Hebrews 13:7).
Sometimes, we just need to be reminded of what we already know. Read more.
How Being a Parent Is Like Being a Rock Star
For a smile, check out Kim Bongiorno’s list at Let Me Start By Saying: ten ways being a parent is like being a rock star:
- 1. Endless hours on the road with too many people in the car.
2. Your job is to entertain a room full of loud, writhing maniacs.
There are more chuckles ahead. Read more.
A Home That Serves Us
Lore Ferguson writes at her blog, Sayable, about building a home that nourishes us so that we can be families that nourish others.
- There is nothing magical about our home and we are plenty flawed, trust me, each one. Yet in this home there is no onslaught toward us, we are for one another and for the hope the gospel offers today and the sanctification the gospel offers tomorrow. I am reckless in how much time I give to the girls in that way and some judge me for it. But I have seen nothing but good fruit in it, the steady, faithful work of the gospel taking root in all of our lives day by day, degree by degree.
How to talk to boys . . . and get them to talk back
Brad Griffin writes at the Fuller Youth Institute blog about things he’s learned from Rosalind Wiseman’s book, Masterminds & Wingmen: Helping our Boys Cope with Schoolyard Power, Locker-Room Tests, Girlfriends, and the New Rules of Boy World.
- As much as I am not a huge proponent of focusing on lots of gender differences, there is no escaping the social reality of boys. It shapes them in profound ways. While we can’t protect or remove them from that shaping influence, learning about the structure of boy world (or refreshing ourselves, for those of us who were once boys) gives us a bit more of a compass for navigating these murky waters.
Despite its massive title, Griffin says. the book has some good principles to work from with sons. Read more.
Around the Warren:
See, and Listen, and Remember
Glenn McCarty, one of Story Warren’s newest contributors, writes about the roller coaster of parenting, and the challenge to live with a Kingdom-mindedness that sees the world we’re in and remembers what was and will be.
- One morning, I crested the same hill (it’s a good hill), and noticed a cloud above the road, plump as a cotton ball, its top half glowing rose-pink in the dawn like a watercolor painting. I slowed and craned my neck to take it in. As I passed below it, I noticed the bottom, shaded charcoal-black, as if someone had taken a grease pencil to the beauty of the upper half.Isn’t that like life? One minute I’m sitting beside my son at the piano watching with rapture while he confidently plunks out the notes to the four-measure piece he’s been practicing for a week. The next, I’m sitting him on the chair in the corner – yes, that chair – and explaining for the umpteenth time why biting doesn’t solve anyone’s problems.
Duality. It’ll get you every time.
“…the God-given ability to be creative.”
Words by Clay Clarkson. Art by Paul Boekell.
Hatchet Is the Best Sort of Mature Book
Loren Eaton reminds us that young adult (YA) fiction doesn’t have to be all about love-lorn suicidal teenagers dying of cancer in post-apocalyptic war-torn dystopias. Sometimes “mature” books for younger readers are like the classic, Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen.
- Brian’s sufferings aren’t supposed to entertain. They illustrate the point that life apart from human civilization is — to paraphrase Hobbes — abbreviated and unpleasant. They detail the delights of clawing order from the chaos of nature. (One scene describing how Brian salvages the sweet juice from overripe raspberries has stuck in my memory for twenty-five years.) They mirror Brian’s ability to manage expectations of his broken family, his facility for survival growing with his acceptance of having an unfaithful parent and an absent one.
Animal Crackers
Something to Do with Your Kids:
We’re coming up on Valentine’s Day. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was prepare my Valentine’s Day cards for my classmates and friends. In my family, Valentine’s Day was a celebration of love—not just romantic love, but family love, brotherly love, and friendship. So maybe you can take some time this week to celebrate love with your kids. And maybe you can make some lovely decorations while you do so.
And Something to Watch
Sand seems pretty mundane to most of us, but perhaps we just aren’t looking closely enough. This little video proves it is way more interesting than I ever knew.
Thank you for reading. We’re on your side.
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 4 - February 1, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 3 - January 25, 2025
- The Warren & The World Vol 13, Issue 2 - January 18, 2025
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