The pink light filtered through the window above my front door. I had to follow it. Stepping onto my front porch, the pinks and purples flooded my senses. It was more than a visual sensation. It was a moment flush with beauty.
I snapped this photo with my phone while standing on the curb in front of my house. But mostly I stood there, agape with wonder.
And I might have missed it.
Within minutes, the day gave in to the sun’s final descent and the sky turned an inky hue with nothing but cloud-shaped shadows as remnants of its recent gift.
There. And then gone again.
I walked back inside and returned to the table where I had left my half-eaten dinner. It has become common at my house to stop whatever we are doing to follow the light of a setting sun.
This is part of my daily ritual: finding beauty in quiet moments, however fleeting. I find it leads, in part, to a quiet heart. This, and good reading, too. So, I have some links to share, but first, an invitation.
An Invitation…
I’m speaking at a two-day women’s event on October 6-7, 2023, in Weddington, NC. If you live in the area, I’d love to see you there. Here is a LINK with the details.
I love gathering with women, hearing their stories, and delving deeper into Scripture together. This weekend event is an opportunity for us to slow down and quiet our hearts and connect more closely with others. I hope you can join us.
Some words that made me pause and reflect more deeply…
For the next two weeks, I will be mostly offline as I prepare to share what God has put on my heart for the women who will be gathering on October 6-7. In the meantime, here are some links to articles that are well worth the time to read.
“Honor Thy Church Mothers — with Wages” by Jen Wilkin (I have so much I want to add to this important conversation, and I would love to hear your thoughts as well.)
“Dorothy Sayers Solves Her Scandal of the Evangelical Mind” by Nadya Williams (This really resonated with me. I need to read more by Dorothy Sayers.)
“A Refuge of Authenticity” by Hadden Turner (This is so good, and it goes well with the predominant theme of my own writing of late: Sanctuary.)
“Planting Our Flag in the Real World: Parents Take the Postman Pledge” by Matt Stewart (I am so happy to see more parents of young kids doing this.)
“Switching off: Sweden says back-to-basics schooling works on paper” by The Guardian (Many thanks to Ruth Gaskovski for sharing the link to this one.)
“We Don’t Need a New Twitter” by Cal Newport (I’ve been reading Cal Newport since his books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism first came out. He is spot on.)
“Where can I keep all this time that I’m saving?” by Justin Hanagan (Sometimes a little satire really drives it home.)
The quiet beauty of sunsets…
If you have taken a picture of a sunset that took your breath away and you’d like to share it with others in an upcoming newsletter, you can send it to me as an attachment in an email. It doesn’t have to be a picture taken with a fancy camera or anything — just a snapshot of beauty that captured your heart in that moment. I thought it might be fun to have an upcoming newsletter with pictures of sunsets taken by readers.
As always, I cherish reading your comments and the emails you send in response to something I’ve written. Thank you, especially, for your kind responses to my recent essay How I Left the Prosperity Gospel. I would love to hear more of your stories of how your own encounters with the Prosperity Gospel has impacted your faith journey, for we are sojourners together.
Shalom.
Denise
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Interesting but we need to keep ourselves from being victims- ie Jen Wilkins. I served as a children’s ministry leader fur years in churches unpaid. There are ways around it- like keeping track of expenses and maki f sure the tithe reflects that. I had to buy all my own material but extracted the cost from our tithe.
I was paid in my job as a teacher in a Christian school. Churches cannot pay everyone and neither they should. In fact most churches today have too many paid staff.