Bend Back
Where does one even begin when looking back at 2020? For so many it’s been a year of loss, grief, isolation, and separation. And in the...
Author: Monica F
Back to the Shire
In the busy chatter of the pub, it would be easy to overlook the powerful transition taking place over a pint. After a long and arduous journey, four friends—bonded...
Not As It Should Be
“When I pass from this life to the next, I do not want to come back to this place. No, I will not come back to my home, this...
Full Circle
It was a warm spring day in the small market town where I lived in rural Asia and from my window I could see the glint of sun-kissed rice...
Despite the Circumstances
Have you ever volunteered or signed up for something that you actually had no business signing up for? Or maybe you thought after the fact, “What was I thinking?...
From Burn to Release
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real...
A Slow Burn
Like many of you, my story-- my overseas story-- is full of complicated layers of stress, hope, survival, endurance, and resolve. There are highs and lows. We get tired,...
Elbow Jabs and Sacred Spaces
The passenger behind me is coughing spastically, and the lady sitting next to me on the plane has bumped my elbow for the tenth time. Irritated, I look up...
Ornaments of the Heart
The holidays are often bittersweet for me. Between the candy canes, sparkly lights, and tasty desserts, my childhood memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas are riddled with flashes of family...
Tell It To Me Straight {The Grove: Telling Their Story}
Newsletters. I wrote them for 18 years -- paper, email, and eventually some blog posts. Our organization had ‘checkers’ who made sure the content was free of grammatical errors...
