The whole audience knew it.

Young and old.

hands raised.

the loudest I had heard this church sing since visiting for the first time 2 months ago.

The young and old knew it and we all felt it.

I closed my eyes and saw the semi circle again.

Tears filled my eyes and I felt like I could nearly weep aloud.

Somedays, when I feel the inadequacies of life, I stare at a screen too long and feel like my life isn’t going anywhere, or my kid’s birthday isn’t as extravagant as the other mama’s balloon arch I saw on Instagram ….

When we see 700 commercials telling us to buy or have the bigger and better.

When we for some odd reason think people need to know our every move and we need to gain their approval for every idea we have or party we throw…

I wish we were just all still out cuttin hay.

it involves engaging with people to figure out if you’re in the right spot AND knowing that when you ask, the next person will willingly take you to where you need to go, without an ounce of hurry in their bones.

Take it from me as I sit in a season so new and uncomfortable I cry nearly every day, we all need stories. Maybe we read them from screens now instead of while we pick peas on the front porch. But we need them. Because a story gives us the meat. But it also gives us the other side.

The side we all want to land on: HOPE.