The air took on an apocalyptic crimson hue due to the wildfires ravaging entire towns. Just thirty minutes from my home the fires were raging and blanketing the air with smoke, so the decision to seek out cleaner air was made. Our home is outside of the evacuation zone, but the hazardous air and coughing…
Category: Holly Hawes
After Graduation—What I Wish Someone had Told Me
Graduates of 2020 will never forget the unexpected circumstances that shifted their expectations for what finishing one chapter of life and beginning another would look like. For many, it became impossible to walk across the stage, shake hands, and receive the paper proof that they did indeed finish. Still, graduates around the world are stepping…
Love of the Mothers
When I imagined becoming a mom, it was pretty straight-forward. I wasn’t worried about deciding on my parenting style or what kind of food I would feed my hypothetical children. There were no thoughts in my head about how to handle toddler poo-tastrophies or teen anxieties when the SAT test loomed. I didn’t have a…
The Wait of Christmas
Immersed in the sight of snow-packed roads and lightly dusted evergreens, my husband and I drove over the Cascades for Christmas with my family. We were deep in waiting. Waiting to find out why having children wasn’t easy for everyone. Waiting to see if the doctor would take young newlyweds seriously. Waiting for the perfect…
Book Review: Journey, A Path to Biblical Change
We all have places in our lives where we feel the need for change. But we don’t always know how we move from knowledge of our need to actual change. We begin to feel stuck and are tempted to believe we are simply stuck this way. As believers, we know that Christ has made an…
3 Pitfalls of Doubt for the Religious
Some people wear their scars on the outside. Life circumstances make it obvious that there is a need for wholeness and healing. We love to see God’s grace and mercy transform regular humans into what 2 Corinthians calls a “new creation.” The addict turned counselor. The depressed turned joyful. The wanderer who finds the way…
God, Help Me to Breathe When I’d Rather Yell
We were already late for the second day of Vacation Bible School as I carried one child to the car because his shoes still weren’t on. A plastic toy I could have sworn I’d never seen before quickly became the source of an argument as I buckled the children in and the volume increased. We…
The Perseverance of Hope
I ordered freshwater pearls off the internet to adorn my neck on my wedding day. Their rough, imperfect sheen was just the look I wanted. Classic, but not as perfect as the identical spheres I imagine gracing the necks of British Royalty at a tennis match or June Cleaver as she welcomes her children home…
4 Areas to Create Margin and Find Abundance
Today was an off day. Last week was a jam-packed, no-school, sunshine-filled string of days without obligations. We had so much freedom. Sleep in if you want. Yes, have a snack. Play with me. Let’s go outside again! Monday met my transition expectations, as we all wriggled back into normal like fancy shoes after flip…
Abiding in the True Vine
The gnarled oak toppled overnight, stressed by the torrential rain and wind that suddenly became too much. Wide-eyed children gasped as we drove by in the morning light, wondering aloud how something so mighty could be grounded with a bit of wind. While the outside had been unremarkable enough that I never previously noticed this…
Anchored Voices 