Faith Seeking Understanding
my personal journey towards a deeper knowledge of and intimacy with God, the cosmos, humanity and myself through thoughts, words and (occasionally) images
Latest Stories
Faith seeking understanding #075: A return, a recommittal, a new resolve
Faith seeking understanding #075: A return, a recommittal, a new resolve
Folks who follow me may be surprised to see that I’m writing reflections again under the title of “Faith seeking understanding.” Although…
Faith seeking understanding #074: Give me success… but not yet!
Faith seeking understanding #074: Give me success… but not yet!
“Nothing succeeds like success.”
Faith seeking understanding: #073: Will my life even matter?
Faith seeking understanding: #073: Will my life even matter?
A reflection on life and legacy spurred by the deaths of Rachael Held Evans and Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Faith seeking understanding #072: Goodbye to “Faith seeking understanding”?
Faith seeking understanding #072: Goodbye to “Faith seeking understanding”?
During my time away from writing regularly, one of the factors that tempted me to stay away is the very title of this series: “Faith…
Faith seeking understanding #071: What I learned from skipping a day of writing… or two… or three…
Faith seeking understanding #071: What I learned from skipping a day of writing… or two… or three…
Breaking my writing streak and skipping a day of writing taught me a lot. That missed day turned into a week of erratic writing, much of…
Faith seeking understanding #070: On the necessity of obscurity for fame
Faith seeking understanding #070: On the necessity of obscurity for fame
I am rereading Elaine Dundy’s chapter about me from the memoir that she is writing. I am reminded what a good comic writer she is; she…
Faith seeking understanding #069: My spiritual ego
Faith seeking understanding #069: My spiritual ego
Inspired by Jonas Ellison’s essay; “A rant on Lutheran theology and contemplation.”
Faith seeking understanding #068: Momentum supercedes my will
Faith seeking understanding #068: Momentum supercedes my will
Momentum takes over even when the will flags
Faith seeking understanding #067: The hard work means it’s real
Faith seeking understanding #067: The hard work means it’s real
I worked hard today. At my job. As a novelist. I spent hours printing out my novel’s manuscript and forcing myself to sit and read as many…
Faith seeking understanding #066: Writing envy
Faith seeking understanding #066: Writing envy
Someone wrote today what I wished I had written tonight. I will allow myself to pout a little. The author is a little farther ahead of me…
Faith seeking understanding #065: Slogging through storycraft land
Faith seeking understanding #065: Slogging through storycraft land
I spent hours in storycraft land today. Most of that time was well spent, although I didn’t advance my word count (and probably decided to…
Faith seeking understanding #064: Reclaiming pleasure
Faith seeking understanding #064: Reclaiming pleasure
Pleasure.
Faith seeking understanding #063: On the limits of hero worship
Faith seeking understanding #063: On the limits of hero worship
I suppose one should be very careful about choosing one’s heroes. Pick someone too brilliant, and one runs the risk of sure frustration…
Faith seeking understanding #062: Blaming it on the cats
Faith seeking understanding #062: Blaming it on the cats
The cats aren’t helping me write tonight. This upsets me. When I don’t need them to help me write, they’re all over me and my keyboard…
Faith seeking understanding #060: Writing for an audience vs. writing for myself
Faith seeking understanding #060: Writing for an audience vs. writing for myself
Over the past hour, I’ve written more than 1500 words which I never intend to see the light of day. These are not those words, but I…
Faith seeking understanding #059: Lying fallow
Faith seeking understanding #059: Lying fallow
Very often I wonder how I am doing. I wonder this on days like today where I spent a significant amount of time under a blanket on my day…
Faith seeking understanding #058: Cryptic thoughts scribbled in service to consistency
Faith seeking understanding #058: Cryptic thoughts scribbled in service to consistency
I haven’t given myself a lot of time to write this evening.
Faith seeking understanding #057: Which Christianity are you talking about?
Faith seeking understanding #057: Which Christianity are you talking about?
I’ve been several types of Christian in my life. Even now I continue to be a certain type of Christian, a particular kind of Christian…
Faith seeking understanding #056: On needing a good kick in the butt
Faith seeking understanding #056: On needing a good kick in the butt
Well, I was feeling pretty full of myself as I sauntered into my therapist’s office today. When he asked, I told him that I was doing very…
Faith seeking understanding #055: In Praise of Wasting Time (a review)
Faith seeking understanding #055: In Praise of Wasting Time (a review)
Wasting time is a skill I consider myself to be particularly good at, so I was amused to see the title of Alan Lightman’s little book: In…
Faith seeking understanding #054: Riding the flow
Faith seeking understanding #054: Riding the flow
Today I still find myself in a creative flow.
Faith seeking understanding #053: On productivity and balance
Faith seeking understanding #053: On productivity and balance
I really didn’t want to interrupt my flow today. It’s been a productive few weeks for me — especially the past few days, and I want to…