I use words to help people get connected to their own gifts, passion, and purpose.
This is where I walk barefoot through my life, finding God present. It is personal and honest. I write about hope, grief, healing, parenting, family life, friendship, and the quiet ways grace keeps showing up in ordinary days.
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On being barefoot...
Before the burning bush, God asks Moses to take off his sandals, to notice and reverence that he walks on holy land. This holy land continues to burn before me, before us, signaling God’s presence before we arrived rather than because we did. This life we are living was holy before we existed in it. This land and creation we call home is the first book of revelation, God’s love letter to us, bearing witness to the Creator of it all.
Our lives and the moments that make them up are the stuff of sainthood, our invitations to participate in Divine life to be swallowed up and fulfilled by God. At the grocery store, in the false solitude of our cars and commutes, in our laundry rooms, and over text messages.
My shoes run the risk of “protecting” me from the sacredness of this naked moment. And how I love shoes, and how my sensitive toes resist the prickles of grass and the mess of sand. But barefoot is how my spirituality works, daring to live an embodied and earthy love of Jesus who took on flesh. I’m wandering through this life, yearning to let go of my shoes, to walk reverently and with deep attention to what passes under my feet and to what isn’t yet my path.
Barefoot is how I write, how I speak, how I work. Experience shored up against an insatiable thirst for knowledge; direct honesty honed by sensitivity; and vulnerability chained to a commitment to competency. And an unapologetically barefoot tendency to speak it as I feel it, which leads me to…
& preaching...
I’m a preacher without a pulpit, with words that burn until they are spoken ~ aloud or on a page.
My ministry is one of colliding words and ideas, reaching out to find a connection with God’s amazing people.
The world seems to me to be spilling over with grace and we seem to be people who, all too quickly forget that all of this is pure gift.
When I’m driving, eating, visiting, resting, cleaning, working, playing, and almost everything else, I’m frequently stunned by the pure miracle of what simply is.
It’s not all promised joy and ease, but it is all presenced and remembered by the One who gives it. And I can’t stop talking about it, proclaiming it, preaching this good news that we have not been forgotten or forsaken in any moment of this life.
For reasons I don’t quite understand, my words seem to be given to encourage and inspire. In a world where women and girls are still too-often silenced or secondary, I’m barefoot and preaching because my soul won’t rest any other way. If my words can be a gift to you, then that is a gift for me.
Read more from Barefoot & Preaching
Barefoot & Preaching is a syndicated monthly column in The Catholic Register.
Do you know that God is delighted with you?
It is so easy for me to be delighted by people...and at the same time, it nearly tears the heart out of my chest to really believe that I am delightful – because when I try to earn love and prove my worthiness, I become incapable of experiencing the miracle that I am.
The surprising power of gentleness
My problem, it turns out, was not with gentle at all, but with the way that our culture ascribes value to external markers like gender, age, race, ethnicity, education and social status to define how certain types of people ought to behave. Forget simple double standards – there are multitudes of land mines just waiting for unsuspecting unique and authentic human beings to wound.
Holding onto hope and mittened hands
Three years ago, I ran about six months past empty. I was starving for hope, and starvation creates desperation. If hope is like water, then starvation is arriving at the well to find it frozen. Desperation is like trying to thaw it with a screwdriver when a torch and a cup are sitting right in front of you.
Practising spirituality like we are learning to walk
Over the last several weeks, our baby girl has been learning to walk — a deeply spiritual practice, if you ask me. It begins with tentative and almost unintentional experimentation before it gives way to gradual practising, when circumstances (like siblings, food or pets) do not require the speed of crawling. I love the thrill of success written all over their faces when they realize they can do it, even if it is only for a moment.
On giving thanks: practising gratitude when we are desperate for grace
The darkness has given me the gift of asking for help, the grace of sharing the story with others who have walked the same lonely road, and the mercy of being more compassionate with others and myself.
Keynotes Speaker & Retreats for
Real-Life Growth
Whether you’re looking for a keynote speaker, a breakout facilitator or retreat, I’ve got you covered. I love to work with your theme and needs to deliver an inspiring message that will leave you feeling encouraged and empowered to be powerful agents of compassion and change in the world.
You’ll find sample session options below. If you’re seeking something specific, reach out and we can shape a custom talk that fits your community perfectly.
Carrying the Weight of our World with Compassion
Looking for – and Being – the Helpers
I Changed My Mind, & It Changed My World