The Holy Labor, Back Again

A new way to share more goodness with you

Writing here is bringing me joy these days. Every week I tell myself, “you don’t need to finish another essay,” but every week another one flows out again. I didn’t plan to start writing more during cancer, but whatever gives life is where I spend my days now.

And yet I’ve missed the other half of the Holy Labor, too. The regular round-ups of others’ creative work: books, essays, podcasts, articles, poems, prayers, and artwork.

One of the reasons I started this Substack was to share more goodness from others’ holy labor, especially since social media’s algorithm now tends to punish an abundance of resharing.

Here’s my solution: a new mid-week email with a handful of recommendations for you.

I’m limiting myself to five short links each time to make it manageable. Once I started gathering what I’ve been saving to share, I found that I already had months’ worth ready to go—and ease is a delightful sign of a good direction.

So look for this new offering on Wednesday mornings to brighten up your mid-week. Let me know what you enjoy!

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My friend

Shannon K. Evans

made me cry with this essay. Who among us hasn’t asked her son’s question: “Why do sad things only happen at our house?”

After this poem I wrote on friendship in our forties went viral, every variation on a theme has been a gift to behold—including this prompt from

Ellie Roscher

and this response from

Wendy Cichanski Caduff

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This photo essay caught me in every back-to-school emotion: Brotherhood is Forever by Rhonda Mason at

Coffee + Crumbs

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Cannot recommend this book highly enough: Searching For and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart by Fr. Jacques Philippe. Now reading it for the second time this year.

This is a masterpiece: Welcome to Mary Oliver Garden from McSweeney’s.

This post contains an affiliate link, but buy that book from your local indie if you can!

I picked these just for you. LIKE OUR PRIZE-WINNING GREEN BEANS.