The Messy Coffee Table

Do you feel like your voice is heard above all the noise? I've really struggled with this one. As an enneagram 4 with a 3 wing (I know, nerd-alert), I long to be authentically known, seen, and heard. I long to have a voice in the things that matter to me. Whenever I feel silenced, or drowned out by other voices, I get insecure. I start to question, will I really matter in this world if the world can't hear my voice? This gets all jumbled up in my vocation too - as a singer and a worship leader, the voice is essential. Whenever I get sick and can't sing, it breaks something in me. I feel useless. If there's a particular issue we feel strongly about, but the powers that be aren't really listening, we can even start to feel like our voices don't really matter. That's when sin and anxiety try to creep in and speak for us. Sin is wanting to mute everyone else so that we alone can be heard. This works great for Zoom meetings (efficiency-minded introverts, unite!)....

Y'all, I love to eat. I've tried "dieting" but my desire to look a certain way has never been stronger than my desire to enjoy food. I am unapologetically hungry for gathering and feasting with my people. I love a home-curated menu. Decadent trays of charcuterie and glasses of wine preluding a fresh-off-the-oven dish, filled in with sides contributed by all the guests, enjoyed around someone's table...passing this or that, filling and re-filling glasses, catching up and swapping stories. Top it off with a fabulous dessert and retreating to the living room with a night-cap in hand, and you've just described my kind of evening. I also love going out. I love experiencing a menu as it was meant to be experienced. No modifications, no substitutions. My husband rolls his eyes at me for liking "fancier" places (and I'm not talking about 5-star dining here, just anything slightly "elevated"). For him it's mainly about sustenance, at a reaso...

There are certain aromas that immediately take you to a time and a place. Like the smell of pumpkin pie baking in the oven...I'm brought back to childhood days of holiday meals and family gatherings. That time of year I always find myself looking for candles that bring the same spiciness and warmth to our home. Or like the salty coastal air, the briny sea breeze an echo of gathering under shade of palms, kicking a soccer ball around, lazing in hammocks, playing music and sipping on cheap beer. When I smell garlic roasting in a pan, I think of home...I think of learning to cook with and for my husband in these first few years of marriage, no kids yet, just trying our best to be adults and find a rhythm. When I smell pineapple and coconut I also think of my husband, soaking up the sun somewhere in the Keys, letting the days crawl by slowly, listening to The Eagles or Jack Johnson by the pool. The smell of coffee brewing reminds me of my dad, and early mornings driving me to school wh...

Good lighting has become really important to me. I'm a big aesthetics person, so for me, the right light at the right time is everything. It instantly creates a mood and sets the pace for whatever place you're in. I have three favorite kinds of light: morning light, warm glow, and the golden hour. That has to be one of the dorkiest things I've ever said, but I don't care. Morning light is that cool, natural sunlight that streams into your windows at the beginning of a clear spring day. It's a light breeze making the curtains flutter ever so slightly, and the sound birds chirping outside. It's the first sip of coffee curled up on the couch on a Saturday morning. It's the kind of light that makes our dog all squinty-eyed as he emerges from the dark coziness of our bedroom, stretching sleepily.  Warm glow is exactly what it sounds like. Think of a string of warm white lights on a Christmas tree, or lining a covered backyard patio. It's the kind of light tha...

About two years ago I was on a ten-day mission trip in Colombia with a group of college students from three different cities: Boston, Miami, and Las Vegas. The purpose of our mission was to come alongside two churches in two cities - one in urban Pereira and one in rural Jamundi. My role primarily was to lead worship for our team as well as with the worship teams at each church, learning from one another as we engaged in making music for the Lord. Part of this journey involved leading worship during a women's small group (which turned out to be not so small), led and taught by two of our own team leaders. The teaching was from a passage which, to this day, continues to impact me in my walk with God in ways I never expected. The passage was 2 Corinthians 4, which if you've never read through it before, stop right here and go read it and take your time with it. Seriously, do it. It's SO good. I'll be here waiting when you're done. Here we see Paul speaking to the ...

Last time, we gathered around this message of making room for God in every season. The practice of inviting him into our "heart-home" as we talked about can be both beautiful and painful all at the same time. And once we've invited God in...into our hearts, our stories, into each and every moment...then we are invited to abide with Him there. And that's what I want to talk about today. What does it mean to "abide?" Jesus emphasized the importance of abiding in Him in John chapter 15. He compares himself to a vine, and us (believers) to the branches of the vine. It reads: I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in  me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it  abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you ...

I have grown to really love advent. As a kid, it wasn't really anything more to me than a little calendar filled with chocolates for every day leading up to Christmas in December. These days, having grown and learned so much from the Lord and from my local church, advent has become something really special. Childhood anticipation for Christmas morning treasures under the tree have evolved into a beautiful combination of remembrance and waiting for the coming of the greatest Gift of all. I've especially loved learning how our worship can intentionally illustrate this longing in the weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, with songs and readings that culminate in a glorious receiving of our new born King Jesus. Last year in particular, God keept bringing me back to the same theme over and over as we entered the Advent season: We've all heard the timeless carol, Joy to the World... "let every heart prepare him room..." This phrase stands out to me in a different way no...