1. Kelley Nikondeha on homemaking –but really on what it means to live peacefully in a world perpetually choosing sides. Kelley’s writing is beautiful, and practical, and she challenges me.

“Not long after the incident at school I remember my son asking from the backseat, “Do those boys have God’s fingerprints on them, mom?” As we pulled into the driveway I assured him, “Yes, they are made in God’s image just like us.” “So, God loves them like he loves me and my sister?” I answered in the affirmative. “So I shouldn’t be mean back? I should forgive them and give them another chance?”

And there it was … acknowledging the image of God in others and letting that truth control how we see them and respond to them. We don’t return evil for evil. We offer forgiveness and we believe everyone gets second chances (and then some) from a generous God. We try to see the humanity of those boys like our own, and how a loving God embraces us all.”

2. Chris Bradley on life as a post-law school “loser.”

“The truth is, I don’t know what my life would be like if I could realize my wishes on impulse, if I could brush away the “failures” above—the spitting in the wind and the cold call and the exchange with opposing counsel—with the flick of my wrist. I’m not sure it would be worse, but I don’t think it would be any better. Because while I may have only practiced law “on the side,” and while I am “just” a copywriter now, it’s a job for which I am reasonably suited. I’d rather pursue a career in writing and creative work—the stuff I love—than spin my wheels and feel bad about myself because everyone else seems to be doing so much better.”

3. Kristin’s post about communion from A Deeper Story–at home communion is something I really want to start doing.

“In that moment, something happened. My husband began to weep and excused himself from the table. One of my teen sons responded and started crying. “It’s not good, is it?” he asked me. And slowly, gently, my dining room became holy ground. I shared the news we had received with my oldest boys. My husband and I moved in to comfort them, pray for them and just be with them in this time of hurt. I saw my dad move to the end of the table to place his hand on my neighbor who was hunched over crying from the weight of her life’s burdens. “Father, help her to lay these burdens down at your feet and let you carry them,” he prayed. An ebb and flow of the Spirit’s presence, wove His way into the fiber of our family that night.”

4. An angry response to the Delta Gamma email situation at UMD (and one of the reasons I spend my free time advising college-age women on that campus).

“You owe your sisters more than this. You owe yourself more. It’s clear after reading your email that class, self-respect and pride can’t always be taught. Perhaps your next meeting among sisters should be about the things that will really get you through life. Harnessing your power as a woman and using it for good. Giving back to your community (you might want to start by getting some basic education on the LGBTQ community and those with special needs). Putting your brain before your body, and sucking the marrow from your college courses instead of sucking on the end of a beer bong, might be helpful as well. In fact, I would guess that exercising your brilliant mind is actually what got you into college to begin with. And I’ll tell you a secret… once you get out of college, guys really dig smart chicks.”

5.  An op-ed from the New York Times that explains that the government debt threshold we’ve used to support austerity measures across the world for the past three years was … oops … based on a mistake in an excel calculation.

“Over time, another problem emerged: Other researchers, using seemingly comparable data on debt and growth, couldn’t replicate the Reinhart-Rogoff results. They typically found some correlation between high debt and slow growth — but nothing that looked like a tipping point at 90 percent or, indeed, any particular level of debt.”