Cultivating Space to Hear
The streets of our six-million-person city fell silent in March of 2020. The hum of traffic ceased, the hustle and bustle of street vendors was gone. The pandemic forced us all into our apartments. Silence was a marker of the historic stopping of the world. Some of us tried to keep the noise going. Hours […]
Sabbath Week
Sabbath is a sacred invitation—a pause from our work and our striving. It’s a rhythm God wove into creation, a space to trust him, to cease, and to delight in his goodness. As he flung the stars into the sky and then paused to rest, so we, too, are invited to work and rest, to […]
Sabbath Week
Does your heart need space to slow down, rest, and process? Enter Sabbath. In her book Rhythms of Renewal, Rebekah Lyons said, “Taking a rest isn’t a sign of weakness. Yet our culture whispers the opposite: if we try harder, work smarter, make the right career moves . . . we just might live a life […]
Counter-Cultural Pause + Overnight Oats
Pausing in the country we serve in means taking a nap after a big lunch, or at least lying down to rest. The two-to-three-hour lunch break recognized by many businesses and schools leaves ample time for a midday rest. There is a yearly rest during the Lunar New Year when nearly all businesses are closed […]
Sabbath Week
Does your heart need space to slow down, rest, and process? Enter Sabbath. In her book Rhythms of Renewal, Rebekah Lyons said, “Taking a rest isn’t a sign of weakness. Yet our culture whispers the opposite: if we try harder, work smarter, make the right career moves . . . we just might live a life […]
Parable of the Sabbath
It was our first year as cross-cultural workers in India. While on a walk in the Himalayan foothills, we passed a painted cement house. There a lady sat pounding her family’s soapy clothing with a rock. She looked up as we passed by. “Namaste,” I greeted her. “Namaste,” she said, using the back of her […]
Sabbath Week
This week will be quiet around Velvet Ashes as we take time off social media and our blog. Join us? We pray peace and rest for you this week!
A Journey Into Rest
I turn off the kitchen light, sink into my seat at the table, laden beautifully with a simple tablecloth, flowers if we have them, our best dishes, the food we have worked together to prepare. The light of the two candlesticks flickers as we offer a blessing. We close our eyes for a minute, or […]
This Week’s Theme: Sabbath
Sabbath means to rest, to cease work or striving. It is an opportunity to trust the One who flung the stars into the sky and paused to delight in His creation. So too, we work and rest, delighting in God’s good gifts to us. This pause has been built into our annual rhythms for a […]
How Was Your Sabbatical?
When people ask me, “How was your sabbatical?” I am reminded of arriving back in America after a term and people asking me, “So how was China?” How do you put into compact cohesive words something so deeply transformative? After searching for the right words, I’ve landed on one that feels closest to my experience. […]
This Week’s Theme: Sabbath
Does your heart need space to slow down, rest, and process? Enter Sabbath. In her book Rhythms of Renewal, Rebekah Lyons said, “Taking a rest isn’t a sign of weakness. Yet our culture whispers the opposite: if we try harder, work smarter, make the right career moves…we just might live a life of significance. But […]
Announcing a Change
I just said a prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to write this post for me. I know I can’t do it. I can’t communicate to you, dear community, all that I want to say in this post. Those of you who are subscribers received an update email from me last month in which I shared […]