It's almost that time of year again--"The Holidays"--and whether you celebrate Christmas (the cultural or the religious variety), Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, Pancha Ganapati, or any other lovely holiday that I've neglected to mention, gifts are probably involved. In my opinion friends, it's time to get your craft on!Crafting gifts expresses care, makes a smaller impact on our world and our wallets, and just generally makes a person feel hygge. How does crafting promote soulcare?

This week I would like to introduce you to Suzie Ridler, the beautiful muse who caught the idea of Dreamboarding and cast it out into the world.

Cate was yelling at me. Again. Every day it’s the same story. I pick Cate up from school and she happily shows me the new trick she can do on the peddle car; the stone she dug up in the sand pit; how many times she can hop the jump rope on one foot. We find Eden and start the ten minute walk home. By minute seven Cate is screaming about something. Anything.

Earth Day has come and Earth Day has gone, but still we are standing on this orb scratching our heads and wondering what to do to save her.  

When I was practicing a traditional form of Christianity, there were times when I felt absolutely weighed down by the number of spiritual practices I was “supposed” to be participating in. Worship songs. Small groups. Prayer meetings. Private devotions. Bible study. Acts of charity. Evangelism. The list was endless.

When I was about ten years old, a Messianic Jew came to our Lutheran Church and taught us how to celebrate Pesach (Passover) by holding a Seder meal. My parents were captivated by the ritual: the lifting of the afikomen, the passing of the bitter herbs, the salt water on the tongue.

Purim has always been one of my favorite holidays, because it celebrates the story of Esther, one of the few women in the Torah who is widely remembered.

I am a woman. I am a minister.

I don’t know that you would call me a predominately hopeful person. I have chronic migraines, which fall in and out of remission. When I’m in remission I’m a pretty happy go lucky girl, and I do things like chalking love messages on my urban slate. But when I’m out of remission, HOPE is not generally flashing like big neon sign over my personality. Today there is migraine. Yesterday there was migraine. The day before…well, you get the picture. Hope has been running on empty these days.

… and other perils and benefits of examining your faith. It is not uncommon for people to reach a point in their spiritual life where they find themselves questioning the basics tenets of whatever faith they practice. If you’ve been practicing the same faith since infancy, you are even more likely to find yourself –say in your twenties, or thirties—picking apart the bits of whatever kettle of fish you were served up as a child.