Disruption to plans is not always a welcomed guest. We find comfort in familiar places. Routines provide opportunities to remember our story: individual and collective. They help inform identity as we move about this side of Heaven. However, 2020 has thrust us toward recognizing that routines and expectations may change. What then? Several years ago, […]
Why We Can Embrace Interruptions
God has always been in the business of interruption. Who could imagine a parting of a sea? A divine voice speaking to humanity from a bush or under a fig tree? A young boy defeating a giant? Subverting the image of a Kingdom? And Its Divine revelation manifested through the baby growing in the womb […]
What Doesn’t Change After We Vote
A lot of life happens in four years. Stories contribute to it all. Our stories, others’ stories, and the bigger story God is writing through them. In November 2016, I wrote my reflections about the days after the Presidential election. https://stephaniejthompson.com/2016/11/14/the-hard-work-of-being-neighbors/ My own discontent, questions and desire to lean in to hear messages in the […]
Seeking New Ways to See Each Other
“Are these good for baking?” asked the man sharing space in front of the bin of potatoes. I had navigated around the maze of vegetable stands in the produce department of the grocery store on a Saturday afternoon, and arrived here at this moment. As I looked up, he continued, “I’m new to this.” As […]
When Disappointment Reminds Us to Open our Eyes
Sometimes, I am near sighted. This week culminated in a way I didn’t expect. I recently resumed a familiar rhythm that was interrupted last March. God provided purpose and provision in unexpected ways during that time and I was thankful. But I longed for a return to some rhythms that I missed. Three weeks ago, […]
Learning to Hold Space and Hope Rather Than Control
We tend to be fixers. Solutions become placebos to keep a certain comfortable narrative in place: “we keep residence in a world that affirms our expectations.” The problem is that living according to that premise will never bring fulfillment because nothing of this earth will satisfy. We hold little control. When brokenness unfolds as is […]
