Plot Points #5 💌
Leaving church, dressing postpartum, and how to be content with your audience
Hello! I hope you’re all having a lovely Friday.
We planned a big surprise this week for our daughter, Lucy, while she was out of town with my mom. Back when I was pregnant with Theo, Pierce designed and built Lucy a loft bed, which she thoroughly loved. But—at five feet tall and growing rapidly—she has spent the last few months dropping not-so-subtle hints about wanting a big girl bedroom. In Lucy’s absence, Pierce took down the loft bed and I spent two days completely revamping her room: a new full size bed with leopard print sheets, cute accordion blinds, hanging lights, a new desk chair, and a much-needed cleaning. (Kids, man 🤢.) Upon seeing it all for the first time, Lucy screamed and collapsed on the floor in the most dramatic—and, honestly, appropriate—fashion.
Being a parent is the best ❤️.
Along with the fun changes around here lately, there have been some harder ones, too, including our family’s recent decision to leave our longtime church home. I wrote about that here a few days ago and it seems to have resonated deeply with some of you. We are grateful our story is not one of hurt, but of growing and seeking to find a new church home that will continue to help us live faithfully in Christ. I know that leaving a congregation—or an entire faith tradition—is not always a positive experience for people, and I hope our story might be an encouragement to you that sometimes saying goodbye, while painful, can also be good.
In other news, I’m still waiting on the job update. But the interview went very well and I have high hopes! I shall continue to wait with bated breath.
In the meantime…
Point #1: I first thought the Stanley cup was a hockey trophy.
Point #2: “There are times, and clothes, that are not about the kids.”
We are headed to a black-tie optional wedding next weekend, and this hilarious and poignant piece about a mother’s attempt to find a pretty dress for her postpartum body is both spot-on and quite possibly the best thing you’ll read all week.
Point #3: To truly ease suffering for our neighbors, we must stop treating them like a problem to be fixed.
This line 🔥: “To be a co-sufferer is to involve one’s personhood with the other, as the sufferer cries out to God.”
Point #4: We have to grow where we’re planted.
Here’s a piece that gets right to the heart of how many Christian authors feel about platform, and gives some really beautiful advice for how to be a “generative” creator instead of a “corrosive” one. (Hint: it’s gonna take some letting go.)
Reading in the Nook
I’ve finally gotten around to Every Woman a Theologian by Phylicia Masonheimer, whose work I have mentioned here a few times in the past. I’m reading it together with my small group and it is both scholarly and fully accessible. Masonheimer writes about systematic theology with a casual, conversational approach (much like her podcast) and I encourage you to grab a copy if you’re in the market for a book that makes heavy faith stuff practical.
Summer Book Cub Updates
We are in full-swing with our Summer Book Club, and it’s not too late to join in! Grab your copy of Lessons in Chemistry and come say hello on the group chat.
This week, we read chapters 1-12 and I have to say that Bonnie Garmus has managed to take romance, science, and endless misogyny and simmer it down to a narrative that runs almost entirely on wit. It’s so damn good.
I’ll be sending out a post on these first few chapters later this weekend, so be on the lookout! Next week, we are reading chapters 13-24.
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