It's Raining Frogs
Life and Death in the Development | What I'm Reading That's Changing Me | Upcoming Events | WOW Book Updates
Someone flipped the switch in Wilmington last week and turned on the humidity, and now there are frogs everywhere, tiny hoppers on my patio, ones with their tadpole tails still stuck on their butts, anonymous chirpers and singers tucked in the choir lofts of retention ponds, bright green frogs clinging to our siding, and, most disturbingly, full-grown amphibians flattened on the asphalt around our neighborhood.
So many frogs! It’s a plague of sorrow and delight, a rotating billboard of birth and mortality.
This is life! You could be hopping pleasantly along, leaving the pond and exploring the fresh lain sod when all of a sudden there’s a Westie, its wet snout snuffling. Ruby wants to smash the babies and rub her face in their freshly dead goo. I can’t leave her unsupervised outside because of the horror.
You just don’t know when something much larger than you will snuff out your spirit and turn you to goo.
Memento mori, friends! This is the moment we have, and even it isn’t promised, it’s given, by some crazy grace that made your particular collection of cells and bacteria bond together in the form of a human instead of a frog. Take a deep breath and sing.
What I’m Reading That’s Changing Me
The books I just finished are in the business of rewiring my inner life and behavior even as we speak. Both ask for greater intention in how we form and shape our days in ways that are inspiring.
Be warned: both will leave you longing for something more, something better, something deeper, something richer. But they won’t leave you guessing what that more and better and deeper and richer is.
In case you haven’t noticed, I spend a lot of time in my mind, reflecting on what’s happening around me, playing out entire conversations before I even utter a word, analyzing situations and thinking strategically about what comes next. I like to plan. I like to know. I like to think.
This extends to my spiritual life. When it comes to my faith, I am hungry for more information. I friggin’ love to learn about God and the Bible and what one ought to do and where we’ve gone wrong and how we can fix it, etc.
I’m not nearly as practiced at simply experiencing God. The heart part of my faith, the part that can’t rely on reason for its hope, is a recent area of growth. In truth, I am a novice in trusting God’s goodness, an experiential learner with recent on-the-job training through my long-Covid journey.
Open Mind, Open Heart by Thomas Keating is all about learning how to rest in the presence of God using the practice of centering prayer. This work by Keating gives clear, simple, and freeing guidance for practicing centering prayer, which might be simple but is definitely not easy.
Have you ever tried to sit in silence, letting each thought pass through, paying no attention to the chatter in your brain, and allowing yourself to just be with God?
I have tried twice so far. It is not easy. I experienced no profound insights. You’re not really even supposed to diagnose whether it “worked.” All I can say, so far, is that centering prayer centered me in peace. Whatever God did while I sat and did nothing steadied me. I’m eager to keep returning to that quiet space at the center of me.
In a different way, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver has resurrected my desire to pay attention to what I eat and where it comes from. For a full year, Kingsolver and her family determine to eat nothing but what they can grow themselves or find within a hyper-local radius around their farm. Her essays through each month of the year were both convicting and encouraging—I find great delight in cooking meals with fresh ingredients, and Kingsolver’s writing filled me with longing to do even more of that with even fresher ingredients, infusing these mundane three-a-day moments with delight and divinity, making every breaking of the bread sacred.
A Word about WOW:
Before I go, I thought I’d share this little tidbit from a recent review of To Say One Million Times, Wow! Sonja says:
“Writing about awe, faith, and family may not be the most trendy literary topics, but they are perhaps the most important. Sarah Wells brings a much-needed openness to the subject. This is a fresh collection from a rare and honest voice.”
Have you gotten your copy of TSOMTW? I’d love to hear your thoughts! You can now order signed copies directly from me, if you’re so inclined.
Upcoming Events
I’m really looking forward to this season of conversation around subjects I love! Here are a few places you can find me in the next few months:
Live Each Season As It Passes and To Say One Million Times, Wow! A Conversation with Daniel Cooperrider and Sarah M. Wells
Virtual - More Details to Come!
July 7 at 7:30 p.m. EST
“Creation Care: Loving God, Loving Neighbor, Loving the Earth”
Brethren General Conference, Fort Wayne, IN
July 20-24
Book Reading and Signing in Fort Wayne
Sunbound Bookstore, Fort Wayne, IN
July 22 at 4 p.m.
“Use Creativity to Empower Hope”
Wild Goose Festival, Harmony, NC
September 3-6
Into the Wilderness Writers Retreat
Wilmington, NC
October 22-26
Spaces are available for this retreat—come away with me and a couple of my writer friends to explore your story and escape into the beauty of creation! Registrations are due September 1.
Have You Read To Say One Million Times, Wow?
If so, would you do me a favor and post a review? Reviews make a big difference for future potential readers. You can review it on Amazon or Goodreads—either place will help me out.