Reader, I've written a few times this year about a villain I call "The Smothering Grind of Life." As I said last week: The Grind shows up in many different shapes and sizes. It's the pressure businessmen feel to work late, avoid using personal days, and constantly monitor their emails while on vacation. It's the guilt that moms feel when their kids don't make the travel ball team or deliver a 4.3 GPA. It's the fear that ministry leaders feel when their congregations stop growing or their...

Reader, "We need to talk." My stomach sank at those words. I'd just collapsed on the couch and flicked on the TV. The work day had been long; the dinner / bedtime routine even longer. Any mental energy I had to "talk" was long gone, used up by reading Goodnight Moon three times in a row. With an exasperated sigh, I paused my show and turned to look at my wife. She met my gaze with quiet determination. "We can't keep doing this." "We can't keep doing what?" I responded with more edge than I...

Reader, In the past two weeks, I've covered some pretty big ideas: Each of us has a spiritual anatomy that's made up of four parts Our calling is to integrate these parts However, as finite human beings, we tend to live from one or two of these parts most of the time Learning how to live as an integrated person is hard. SO HARD. It's honestly a lifelong pursuit, and there are plenty of times when I revert to my default dominant parts. But when I'm able to interrupt that impulse and...