Playing Super Mario Brothers Is Not Wasting Time | Joy in this Journey But the most important part, the part that, when I remind myself to look for it, makes it less boring, less dull, more significant, is truth that my children need more than words from me. They need more than a hug, kiss, and whispered “I love you” when they run out the door to the school bus or when I tuck them in at night. They need me to show “I love you.” Buying things and giving in to their relentless requests might be . . .

  As Social Issues Drive Young From Church, Leaders Try To Keep Them | NPR "If the church was known more for our efforts to welcome the stranger than keep them out, I think the church would have greater credibility with rising generations," says Baughman. "For example, on immigration policies, we've taken the wrong stance on that, and they know. The thing is they're smart enough. A lot of them have grown up in the church and then rejected it. They've read the scriptures that talk about . . .

You Don’t Have to Be Pretty | Dress-A-Day.com I'm not saying that you SHOULDN'T be pretty if you want to. (You don't owe UN-prettiness to feminism, in other words.) Pretty is pleasant, and fun, and satisfying, and makes people smile, often even at you. But in the hierarchy of importance, pretty stands several rungs down from happy, is way below healthy, and if done as a penance, or an obligation, can be so far away from independent that you may have to squint really hard to see it in the haze. . . .

In Which We Need Pragmatists and Prophets | Sarah Bessey another mother sits vacant and empty on the floor of a fire house, wondering dull what to do with her hands now, they have no hair to smooth, no face to wipe, no pages to turn, that will smooth, wipe, turn this, trying not think how her baby was scared and she was not the re, and I don’t know what to do for her, so I cry again, and I curse, and pray for peace that passes all understanding. We need the pragmatists with policy , we need the . . .

I've started telling my daughters I'm beautiful | Offbeat Families I see it behind their eyes, the calculating and impression. I see it behind their shining brown eyes, how glad they are that I believe I am beautiful. They love me. To them, I am love and guidance and warm, soft blankets and early mornings. They have never doubted how wonderful I am. They have never doubted my beauty. How confusing it must have been for them to see me furrowing my brow in the mirror and sucking in my stomach and . . .

I only have two posts I’d like to link to this week, and that’s because I think they are such important reads. My friend Heather sent a letter to another blogger she knows, in the midst of their state’s battle over marriage equality. She poured her heart out, and then Vicki shared hers as well. The correspondence is beautiful and touching, and an example of how far grace, love, empathy, and listening can go in relating to one another. I hope you will take a moment to read them both. From Heather . . .

My Drug and My Defense | Shauna Neiquist Some people isolate and curl inward, some people dip back into an eating disorder that’s been held mostly at bay for a long time. Some people become angry, wielding rage as power against all the things that scare them.  This is what I do: I keep myself busy, for a whole constellation of reasons. I do it because I'm addicted to the feeling of being capable, because I hate to be bored, because I hate having to face the silence, because it might force . . .

Jen Hatmaker | In the Basement I’m sick of the Jesus forwards and judgment. Sick of majoring on gay marriage. Enough, everyone. With every hate Tweet and finger jab and Bible bludgeon, you are telling my gay friends they are indeed unwelcome, unloved, unvalued, and uninvited. If your agenda is to battle homosexuality, how’s that going? How many gay folks read your Prop 8 yard sign, knocked on your door, and said, “Thank you for voicing your opinion to the neighbors in this manner. Would you . . .

Is the Internet Making Us Crazy? What the New Research Says | The Daily Beast Now, however, the proof is starting to pile up. The first good, peer-reviewed research is emerging, and the picture is much gloomier than the trumpet blasts of Web utopians have allowed. The current incarnation of the Internet—portable, social, accelerated, and all-pervasive—may be making us not just dumber or lonelier but more depressed and anxious, prone to obsessive-compulsive and attention-deficit disorders, even . . .