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“Be Kind.” You've probably seen those words on a garden flag hanging in someone's front yard. You've probably heard a parent tell their child, “Just be kind,” before sending them off to school. Kindness was a hallmark of our beloved neighbor, Mr. Rogers, and remains a virtue nearly everyone claims to value. Ask most people, and they'll tell you we need more kindness. More in our schools, more in our politics, more in our workplaces, and more in our own families. How can somet

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t enjoy the changing leaves of fall. We may dislike the colder weather or the allergies, but the yellows, reds, and oranges invite us to stop and admire. There is something remarkable about it: as the leaves approach the end of their life, we marvel at their beauty. Yet when people grow older, we often see something else. Gray hair. Deepening wrinkles. Slower movements. We see deterioration where we might see beauty. We notice what is fading and

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> I came into the church this morning carrying a hot cup of coffee that burned my hands in a red gas-station cup. As I grabbed my key to the door with my other hand, I met a man struggling with homelessness who needed food on the front stoop. I greeted him, unlocked the front door, and set my coffee down on the quiet heat register because of the 92-degree weather and let him in. The smell of bananas greeted us from a cart i

On my desk at home, I have a small 5 x 8 photo of Jesus laughing. I remember first seeing the photo much larger, hanging in the mess hall of the Baptist camp I grew up attending in the summers. My brother and I would often call it “Bob Marley” Jesus. It was a hard picture to see at first, strange, foreign, even scandalous. Jesus lived a hard life; the scriptures call him a man of suffering. Jesus had a serious mission; the most important mission ever. I didn’t think laugh

This year I got roped into coaching baseball...again. Truth be told, I love it. I loved coaching my son's team this year, and last year, and the years before. But here's a little secret. I'm not actually very good at baseball. I played some backyard baseball growing up. A little softball. But I never played organized baseball. Most of what I know has been learned on the fly. That's where reels come in. I've probably watched hundreds of short coaching videos over the past coup

Noticing Grace is a space for quiet reflection on faith, formation, and everyday life. These reflections are offered as invitations to slow down, pay attention, and notice where God’s grace may already be present. Rooted in Scripture and lived experience, this blog explores the ways we are being shaped by love, by habit, by loss, and by hope; while trusting that God is patiently at work in us and around us. We Become What We Give Our Attention To I woke up one morning with an