To love is to be brave

"She knew what she was doing, pairing her wonder with glory to God."

I don’t condone graffiti, as you’ll see from the poem below. But I do find it beautiful sometimes. ON CONCRETE, NOT TREES.

1. My oldest two are off next week for summer camp, so I’m full of nostalgia for my own life-changing weeks in the woods. Josephine Sittenfeld’s photos bring it all back: The Fleeting Magic of a Summer at Camp in Photographs (from NYTimes, so let me know if you’ve hit your free limit and need a gift article link).

2. “She knew what she was doing, pairing her wonder with glory to God. Were we not mirror images of him made flesh?” An essay that speaks of true beauty and imago dei: never tell a Black child their skin is too dark by Ashley D. Holston at

   on the way home
   .

3. If you’re spending any time in a park this summer, you might need to take this brilliant dagger of a poem with you: Letter to the Person Who Carved His Initials into the Oldest Living Longleaf Pine in North America by Matthew Olzmann.

4. My friend Ligia Andrade is the star (funny word, but she shines) of a striking “microfilm” of Psalm 27. Best 4 minutes you’ll spend on YouTube (in Spanish and English). The holy labor of hard prayer. Will make your mouth water as she cooks. 

5. “So here's to anyone who notices and reads between the lines, who asks the right questions, but not too many, who takes notes at the doctor's office and wipes butts, young and old, who listens, holds and stays. We, who, untrained and always a little off-guard, still dare to do love. To be love. That's brave.” A beautiful TED talk from

   Kelly Corrigan
   .