By Beth Demme What do you know about gold? My knowledge of gold is mainly this: it makes pretty jewelry, like the wedding ring I’ve worn for nearly twenty years. It turns out there’s a lot more to gold than its beauty. Gold starts as a rock in the ground. It gets mined —cut— out of the ground. Picture bulldozers …
Four Thoughts on Forty Years
By Beth Demme It’s my birthday! This blog post publishes on the day I turn … wait for it … FORTY years old. On the one hand, ugh. I’m 40. But at the same time, I find myself thinking: “I’m 40? Wow! Time flies when you’re having fun!” In celebration of my first forty years, I have some very random …
A Lesson In Humility
By Beth Demme “They are the problem. Not me,” I said, completely unaware of how sanctimonious and unfriendly I sounded. “They don’t seem to know how to express the love of God.” I went on, still unaware of the growing plank in my eye. “Some Christians are just closed-minded and they wrap that mess up in a cloak of false …
The Notice the Beauty Challenge
By Beth Demme I tend to be a task-oriented person. I like to have a plan for each day or at least a list of things I hope to accomplish. For some people, the perfect Saturday involves waking up late and then “going with the flow.” To me, that sounds like the worst Saturday ever. Days like that feel wasted to …
I Hope You Never Find Contentment
For a long time, I believed I was supposed to be content. I thought contentment meant maturing beyond my consumerism, greed, gluttony, and selfishness. I thought contentment was the natural outpouring of gratitude and the embodiment of joy. Contentment was so important to me, I tried to talk myself into it. I would mentally list all the amazingly wonderful parts …