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Here’s to the good pastors

Discouragement over pastors and leaders who fall is weighing heavy on almost everyone I know, especially women. It is a thick, wet fog. A long and depressing bewilderment. I spoke to a good friend the other day, and part of our conversation ...

Pass the peace, please

Every now and then during church, Brent does something that makes me so uncomfortable that I try not to glance around nervously to see how other people are taking it. (Generally speaking, spouses try not to swivel their heads around to see ...

Little moments that keep us going

The other day the bottom fell out of my bag of pears. If the bag is the flimsy grocery store produce one, light green and very difficult to open once pulled from the roll (especially now that we do not lick our ...

What is your daily creative ritual?

Ta da! This is an announcement that I have finally finished Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, compiled and edited by Mason Currey. My sometimes-writing partner Patricia owned it first, and intrigued, I ordered it from a bookstore called Perfect Books, using a ...

How to recover from creative rejection (according to me)

Thanks to Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash for this cool windshield photo. "Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug," has got to be one of the best lyrics from a Mary Chapin Carpenter song to which I have ever sung along poorly. ...

Married to the Minister Event is coming up on Nov.29

Thanks to Photo by Angèle Kamp on Unsplash for this cool image. It's been another long year for people in ministry, and yes, it's true, for the entire planet. In my work as a podcast host and editor of a magazine -- ...

Build a writing foundation before a platform

Photo by Devon Rogers on Unsplash I chatted with a young writer the other day, and she asked me how important it was to focus on platform building. The lack of a platform can keep a writer wide awake at 3:00am, eating ...

As we leave Covid behind

The bike repair shop we discovered right around the corner, that kept my ride going. My cat-watching days are almost over. When quiet settled across the land in general and Arlington Street in particular, I sat on my bed and looked out ...

How to be with an old dog

Dewey's dreams. These days Dewey and I walk more slowly than we ever have around our neighbourhood. It used to be exercise for me, and now it's more of a stroll of sniffing. Dewey starts out beside me and ends up behind ...

Married to the Minister Event coming up

I have something fun to share. On Thursday, May 20th, if you're married to a pastor you are warmly invited to "Married to the Minister" a virtual gathering to be heard, seen and encouraged. Since the release of The Minister's Wife: a ...

I’ve turned into a marshmallow

Thanks Joyful on unsplash for your pretty marshmallow picture. About a third of the way through 2020, I attended a legal (then) outdoor gathering where I realized I might have a problem on my hands moving forward. Out of all the people ...

The comfort of small habits

The other day I spread sections of the newspaper I knew I was done with (business and sports, incase that's not obvious) on a corner of our dining room table. I retrieved our little basket of shoe polish, cloths and brushes and ...

Karen Stiller's Newsyletter

Every now and then I write a short e-newsletter. I’d love to have you join.

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