Category: Simply Living
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The World in Our Backyard
The house is quiet, for the most part. Olive Oil is sleeping contentedly on the bed in the other room. I’m sitting at the desk, tapping the keys. There’s a slight hum coming from the computer. The outdoors is making much more chatter than inside our walls. Outside, blue jays jeer and robins whistle and…
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Psalm 4: God Puts Life Back Together
1 Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer. 2 How long will you people turn my glory into shame? How long will you love delusions and seek false gods? 3 Know that the LORD has set apart his faithful servant for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.…
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Keep Rolling
I meant to write about communication and media this week. I did. But I didn’t get to it. Turns out, there’s something about the beginning of the new year that keeps me from writing. Right around February last winter I lost track of my writing, and I’m trying really hard not to let that happen this…
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Take Some Things With You
I was thinking about what to write this week. I’ve been reading so many end-of-the-year recaps and hopes for 2017, and I didn’t want to do that because everyone else is doing a fine job at it, you know? Most have come to the conclusion that “2016 can totally suck it” and we’re moving on…
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In the Glow
Growing up, I was often called a ‘firebug,’ and as it turns out, I married someone who also loves the ambiance provided by a cozy fire. I’m over at You Are Here today, writing about how fires have crackled in the background of so many parts of my life. Join me there to read the whole…
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The Unfinished Lists
At the end of summer, I sat on the living floor with blank printer paper, highlighters, pens, a ruler, and my trusty monthly planner. A new semester of grad school was looming and I knew the only way I was going to be able to accomplish All The Things this fall was to make a plan.…
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What Have We Done?: The Election, Part 2
So here we are, in a place many of us didn’t think we would be, hoped we wouldn’t be. And a lot of us are taking this personally. I know we are all tired of the criticism and bickering and hatred being flung around by those of both political parties — and those outside of…
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A Christian & Liberal Goes to Vote: The Election, Part 1
Every Election Day growing up, my parents would meet at Town Hall and vote together. They always made a plan for this. For much of my childhood, my dad worked evenings at the elementary school about a mile from Town Hall, so he would take a break at work and meet my mom after she finished her…
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The Fullness of Fall
The wind is obstinate today; defiant, testing our limits. It’s slamming half-open doors with a sudden might. It’s trying the patience of dedicated farmer’s market vendors, as they tie their tents to their trucks and weigh down the corners with heavy wares. It’s blowing legions of dead leaves across freshly raked lawns. It’s huffing and…
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Psalm 1: We Don’t Live in Eden
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; 2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. 3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which…
jamie y. watkins 