Category: thoughts

  • Beauty and Love chasing after me

    Beauty and Love chasing after me

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in ,

    It’s Psalm 23:6 in the Jewish prayer book, in Eugene Peterson’s Message version. Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I seem to be far more naturally aware of other things chasing me. Aren’t we all? Work deadlines, home responsibilities, or things I ought-to be doing. Unfinished projects, a messy…

  • to look on him and pardon me

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in ,

    I was singing the old hymn “Before the Throne” to my boys at bedtime tonight and one line is “for God the Just is satisfied / to look on him and pardon me.” Some of my Christ-following friends wouldn’t give this line a second thought, not seeing a problem at all. Some of my Christ-following…

  • Raising Individuals in Community: Leading/Parenting in the Tension

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in , , ,

    Today I’m just trying something new: sharing a few of my thoughts (from a conversation earlier today) in an audio post! Just 9:51 for your listening enjoyment. xoxo Jocelyn

  • I turned 34 this week.

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in ,

    It has been a very non-Lenten way to finish Lent. Far too celebratory. 😉 Maybe I’m crazy (ok actually I know I’m crazy), but this week my mind keeps going back to the likely fact that this was the year of life to which Jesus never made it. Tradition (good, bad, and ugly) usually has it…

  • Hey, Jesus, did coming to earth feel anything like this??

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in

    You know when you’re lying in bed in the morning, perfectly warm and comfy and quiet…and then, suddenly one of your kids or pets loudly loses their minds? And all you want in the world is for them to just get self-control over their immature emotions, use their words, equitably resolve the now escalating conflict…

  • “What do you do?”

    “What do you do?”

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in , ,

    I recently quit my day-job. When you quit your job, you need to prepare a 30-second story of “what you’re doing now” because that’s what everyone asks you, followed by 3-4 clarifying questions, depending equal amounts on how interesting your 30-second story is and on their attention span. Unfortunately, I forgot to prepare my 30-second…

  • He Showed Me Love

    He Showed Me Love

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in ,

    Tim Keller says that for you to know that you are loved, it is not enough just to be told. In order for you to really know and believe way deep down in your heart that you are loved, you must be shown. (Incidentally, every time I think about this idea, it blows off the…

  • Where has judgment gotten us?

    Where has judgment gotten us?

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in ,

    I am a very judgmental person. Of myself and of others. My husband says we all are. He’s really different than me, and he’s really wonderful, so I believe him. Anyway, questions about judgment have been cropping up in my default thought-bank lately. You know, the bank to which your thoughts turn when you’re not…

  • maybe “One Day in Your Courts” isn’t better after all

    maybe “One Day in Your Courts” isn’t better after all

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in

    I’m not trying to start an argument with a dead psalmist. I was just listening to the song “Better is One Day” in Sunday worship service a few weeks ago and I noticed how much Gnosticism that song has produced in me over the years. {Gnosticism is despising / rejecting the material world and embracing…

  • What if Death is really dead?

    What if Death is really dead?

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    by

    Jocelyn
    in , ,

    It’s the refrain that has been reverberating in my head all week as we’ve approached Good Friday: “Death is dead.” Jesus defeated Death, conquering it, triumphing over it. This week I’ve been thinking a lot about Death and taking a fisheye lens to it, seeing if I can mature and broaden its meaning in my heart…