I love to host friends. I love when people drop by unexpectedly. I don’t, however, always love being the one in need. But when I was the one knocking on the door, I found that my neediness actually opened more doors into my neighbor’s life. Doors aren’t meant to always be locked shut. If you knock on them, you might be surprised to find that they open too.
Read MoreEvery new year is filled with hopeless optimism that I can truly change. At the beginning of this year, I took time to look back and reflect on all the ways that my life is different than it was just 365 days ago. I moved to a new state, I got a new job, I got engaged. Life has changed in some sizable ways, and yet I find myself wondering: did I really change at all?
Read MoreI stared at the boxes lining the walls of my garage, stacked up to the ceiling. They had been gathering cobwebs for months. Almost a year earlier, I had stashed all of the unsold CampKit boxes in a storage unit, but a few remained stacked in my garage, a daily reminder of what a wonderful dream it was—and how I had failed.
Read MoreI recently saw the Oscar-nominated film Minari, in which a Korean-American family settles in the farmlands of Arkansas, led by patriarch Jacob. Fueled by tenacious hope and the American dream, Jacob desires to have a thriving farm, to provide for his family, and ultimately to prove his worth - to himself, his family, and the world.
Read MoreIn Nomadland, a woman takes her refurbished van into the desert of the American west, chasing employment after the manufacturing plant she once worked at shuts down. Throughout the film, Fern seems drawn toward the isolation and remoteness of the desert. I too found myself in a wilderness a few months ago. Though I didn’t jump on the road in an RV, I was drawn into a season of spiritual isolation and remoteness.
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