January 24, 2013

The One Thing I Want

For the past year and a half, my Wednesday nights have found me revisiting a life stage I would’ve been fine to forget: middle school. When I signed up to volunteer with the middle school ministry at my church, I did it mostly as a way to get involved. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.

I lead a small group of now 8th-grade girls, and it’s been challenging for me, the nerdy, low-key, introvert, to find ways to engage this group who are so very different from me. We’re separated by personality (the first time I said I read for fun, they literally fell off their chairs laughing) and by years, and I am consistently aware that we just don’t speak the same language. But what’s really amazing is that, somehow, God has been working in me and in them over the last year and a half. I’ve grown to love and enjoy each one of them, and I don’t think they hate me, either … oddly enough.

• • •

November 30, 2012

Celebrating Life

Wednesday was my birthday, and I have to tell you, I love my birthday. I usually start announcing its approach some time in early November, slyly (or not so slyly) slipping it into conversations with friends and coworkers. My family needs no reminder – my three-year-old self made sure November 28 was permanently drilled into their heads as one of the most important dates on the calendar. Let’s just say I’ve never had a birthday pass unnoticed.

• • •

September 6, 2012

Character

“How many fingers am I holding up?”

Flat on my back, I looked up and saw four fingers. The room was still swirling and a few stars still floated in front of my eyes. It was around midnight, and a trip to the bathroom had gone very wrong when I stepped on an ill-placed guitar (I won’t tell you who put it in the middle of the floor), wobbled around like a bad tight-rope walker for a second, fell head first into the door-frame, and bounced backward onto the floor. The bang was so loud that my comatose sister actually woke up. I counted her fingers again. “Four,” I said.

“Erin … there’s only two.”

• • •

July 29, 2012

Character

Yesterday, I stood with my best friend as she took a new name. Thinking back over everything, in the back seat of CRV somewhere on the New York Thruway, I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of it all. Stirring music, words of covenant, Elisabeth in white, a bride adorned and prepared for her groom — glimpses of a deep mystery.

This is not the first time I’ve been a bridesmaid. In fact, this was number 8. I cherish each experience and love each woman who has asked me to be part of her wedding day, but this one is different. I’ve shared in it differently, and the tears that are still intermittently clouding my eyes remind me there’s more to this story than a ceremony.

• • •

June 2, 2012

Character

Usually, life change happens through relationship. I think God designed it that way. That’s why character is by far the most important element of any story.

• • •
1 2