Love like a Mother: How the Sacred Work of Motherhood Reveals the Maternal Heart of God came out May 5 with Brazos Press ! Get your copy today anywhere books are sold in paperback, ebook, or audiobook formats!
(and pssst - all formats are discounted on Amazon as of this writing!)
where we are slowed down by prepping for graduation parties, holding 68 picked dandelions in one hand, changing swim diapers poolside, and generally limping across the finish line of the school year.
May your end-of-the-year lunch boxes be free of mold!
We’ve made it to June 1, and I’m coming in hot to your inbox today with
an invitation & a spiritual practice for the start of summer.
I’d love for you to join this Zoom conversation with Ashlee Gadd , Kayla Craig , and I this Friday, June 5! We’re going to be talking about all things motherhood, faith, community, friendship, and writing, plus our new books, and a time for Q&A. We’re hoping this time together feels like a giant exhale after the craziness of May. To join us, just tap this link to register. It’ll take you to a simple google form, and the confirmation page will have the zoom link! It’s free!
I truly love both of these women and have gleaned so much from their work and writing over the years. They are real and wise and funny and poignant. They understand the spiritual realities of mothering and celebrate the sacred ordinary. Our conversation will be easy-going, with lots of laughs, and hopefully a few of the best kinds of tears.
Ashlee Gadd’s latest book with the Coffee + Crumbs team is You’re in Good Company. I wrote about it when it first came out, but this is a book filled with beautiful essays that explore what it means to create and sustain “the village” we’re all longing for within motherhood. Think no-filter writing, no-frills recipes and hospitality tips, and the heartfelt vulnerability that you’d expect from Ashlee & C+C. Ashlee is the first person that taught me that writing about motherhood could be powerful.
Kayla is a writer who has explored what faith formation looks like in the midst of raising kids, something we love to talk about ‘round these parts. She wrote a whole book of prayers and liturgies for parents. Her upcoming book, Our Daily Breath gives us 365 ways to pray and practice peace in a shouting world. She has put so much into this book, and I can’t wait for it to come out.
I really hope you’ll join us later this week at 4 pm ET, 3 pm CT, and 1 pm PT! Whether you pop on a Bluey episode or have a kid in your lap, are in the carpool line or feeding hungry after-school kids, or in a blessedly quiet napping house, this will be a meaningful conversation that we hope fills you all the way up. Show up exactly as you are; there are zero expectations here!
In this year of our Lord 2026, I’m disappointed that we do not have a scratch-and-sniff feature on the internet yet. It just rained here in Minneapolis, and the combination of the post-shower petrichor with the blooming lilacs and peonies has the very air smelling like spring? beauty? possibility?
Even my nine-year-old came inside this morning and asked me if I’d been outside yet because, and I quote, “Outside smells amazing right now.”
Here’s what we know though. It won’t last. The aroma of lilacs and peonies are here for just a few fleeting weeks. And while will we have deep greens and vibrant blooms for a few more months, sooner than we think, we’ll be back to icy sidewalks and gray skies. The seasonal nature of living in Minnesota is harrowingly sanctifying.
I’m a summer girl through and through, and I soak up every post-9 pm sunset, every run from hot sand into cold lake water, every ripe raspberry from my side yard, every riotous zinnia with joyful celebration tinged with sadness.
Alarmingly, motherhood is the same. My firstborn tiny newborn baby just turned 14, and you guys, his voice is starting to change. My youngest turns ten - TEN! - in two weeks, when just a few months ago he was a chubby little meatball climbing into my lap to grab at whatever was on my plate. It’s joy to watch them unfold, but please, pass the kleenex.
It’s true what they say, babies don’t keep, and the grass withers, well, like grass. Do you ever wonder if God mourns and rejoices as we change and grow? If the unchanging God looks at our growth with the same grief-tinged nostalgia that we felt when our toddler finally stopped saying “mawnlower”? If the God who knows all things from their beginning to their end delights at what’s blooming in us the same way we exclaim at each tender green shoot emerging from the earth?
I often wonder why the eternal Alpha and Omega wove change into creation and into our DNA, why for every single aspect of our lives, there is a season. Maybe it’s this — to learn the liturgy of slurping down joy like a melting ice cream cone; to remember our death and resurrection by truly stopping to see and inhale each garden bloom, to know that every single version of us has been beloved by a God who delights in every single part of who we are and who we have been.
From the remarkable Cameron Bellm:
Try out this practice: Find one fleeting thing in your life - maybe it’s your baby’s chubby dimples or the misheard lyrics in your toddler’s version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. Maybe it’s your pre-teen’s signature hairstyle, or your quiet mornings that are going to come to an end once school lets out for summer. Maybe it’s the peonies bursting outward or the bulbs you planted last fall finally emerging. Take a moment, closer your eyes, and commune with their Maker and yours with this breath prayer:
Inhale: It’s all moving too fast.
Exhale: You are the unchanging everlasting.
I would love to know - what feels fleeting in your life right now? Let me know in the comments!
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