Trying to build community in an urban or transient area can be tricky, particularly if you grew up in a small town where community is something that just sort of happens around you. The first seventeen years of my life were spent in the small town of Big Stone Gap, which is nestled in the Appalachian mountains and is exactly how it sounds. It’s not the kind of place …
August, 2019
Note: This article was written in 2016 and published on my church’s blog; however, the recent heat wave that gripped the nation reminded me that it might be worth sharing again on my own site. Three years later, there are some elements of this post that are no longer relevant to my current life. For example, I no longer have a basement, broken air conditioner, or husband. Minor details. …
“I cannot get one more pedicure!!” I pulled the blanket more tightly around me and glared at the circle of women in my weekly recovery group. At the time, I was forehead deep in a very challenging divorce. After sharing a harrowing story, once again someone asked how my “self-care” was going. Sigh. Thus entered Petulant Megan. Seriously, how many pedicures does it take? Self-care is super trendy right now, …
“Ladies, you really need to think about your clothing. When you wear a tank top, your shoulders distract my son. How can you expect him to control himself?“ This is a real conversation that was had with me and my fellow female students in our high school youth group. The leaders went on to lecture us about our underwear choices because apparently while I was praying at the altar, it …
If someone had told me ten years ago that Bikram Yoga would be an integral part of my future recovery process I would have laughed. A lot. Because I have the flexibility of a Chip and Joanna Gaines farmhouse table – or perhaps an elegant rhinoceros. Then I would have secretly whispered the Lord’s Prayer *just in case* because I still have a lingering fear that yoga = demonic possession. …
I’m not sure if anyone has ever told you this, but divorce is kind of the worst. There are lots of unexpected hidden gems that no one warns you about. Extreme weight fluctuations that require a new wardrobe, lowered self-esteem, mounting legal bills, the loss of a planned future and your favorite blender, and the sting of losing a partner to do life with all take separate tolls on divorced …
I’ve decided that if you were to create a Venn Diagram that compares people who love going to the dentist and people who actually enjoy buying a car, you would end up with a perfectly overlapping circle with approximately four masochists inside. Recently I found myself at the mercy of the automotive industry completely alone for the first time in my life. For some reason, my perfectly functioning (fairly new) …
Two weeks ago General Conference made a decision around inclusivity that many people within the United Methodist Church are having a difficult time understanding. I’ve taken the last few weeks to process my emotions before putting anything out into the wild west of the Internet. I am still sad. I am still angry. However I have seen a few glimmers that give me hope for a new thing. To provide …
Author’s Note: This was written two years ago. Recently I felt convicted by the reality that I am still plagued with negative self-talk. During this season of Lent, I have decided to participate in a little challenge. Rather than give up sugar or social media, for the next six weeks I am going to fast from negative self talk and unnecessary self deprecation. In addition, I will actually try some …
Sometimes I wish I were an inherently thoughtful person, but the reality is I’m just not. Perhaps if you dissect the word based on its Middle English origins: thought + ful = “full of thoughts,” then I meet the criteria. I have loads of thoughts. The problem is they’re usually not good ones. Over the past couple of years I’ve reflected on what type of person I want to be, …
Honestly I am struggling to sit down and write this post, because I want to continuously affirm all of you and shout from the rooftops that you are a precious snowflake designed perfectly in God’s image. Hear me when I say that I do in fact believe this. However, even snowflakes get dingy, gross, and slushy after spending too much time on this planet. The reality is, we’ve all been …
Okay, so perhaps I took some liberties with the words of Jesus’ brother with the title of this blog post. However, I feel as though if James’ friends were on Tinder, he would totally be okay with me hijacking this Biblical verse. In this post, we will explore best practices in how to conduct oneself once you’ve entered the mystical world of online dating. This is part five of a …
When you are a single woman in your twenties/in college you get to play this really fun game called “Try Not to Get Murdered or Sexually Assaulted.” And by really fun, what I actually mean is it’s the worst and it makes me tired. During this phase of life it is so deeply ingrained in your daily way of thinking that you almost forget you are doing it. However, if …
This title is misleading, as I did not try Hinge yet. However, it fit better in my Wizard of Oz analogy. Truly, once I pressed submit on my profiles, I felt as though I’d been transported into an alternate world. A veil was lifted, revealing this underground technicolor dating scene that I never knew existed. Seeing the sheer volume of men and women on the Internet made me slightly paranoid …
Dating profiles are weird. I find them to be the most vile form of advertising in which the commodities for purchase are human beings. However painful it might feel, it is a necessary evil in the twenty-first century of dating. The best thing you can do is accept the fact that you’re literally selling yourself on the Internet like a Craig’s List couch and hope the guy that shows up …
One of the unfortunate byproducts of divorce is that you have to re-enter the dating scene. While some of my married friends like to romanticize this adventure as they remember the rosy glow of dating in their twenties, they fail to realize that everything is different when you are single in your thirties. It is the wild freaking west out there. The dating pool is more akin to the size …
Recently I saw a meme floating around Facebook comparing two adult sons of an alcoholic. The gist of the meme was that one was an alcoholic while the other had chosen another more respectable lifestyle. “See? Alcoholism is a choice!” the meme declares with an air of smug judgment. I found myself feeling somewhat discouraged, because it is based on faulty thinking. Not only does it perpetuate the belief that …
True confession time: I am not a very good Methodist. The rituals and traditions that have been passed down for generations in traditional Christianity are somewhat foreign to me, and I spent several years faking my way through various portions of church services. It wasn’t until I began studying at Wesley Seminary that I realized I should probably learn about some of these customs so that I might be able …
Music has been hard for me for the past year or so. I know this seems strange coming from someone whose career is fully entrenched in worship, but at some point it simply stopped bringing me joy and singing started to feel like work. Music – the medium from which my very soul and essence were molded – no longer brought me alive. I drove to and from work in …
A few years ago, our community was rocked by news that was and is one of the most tragic events I have experienced in my entire life. A family very near and dear to our hearts had all passed away, simultaneously. My stepson’s life-long best friend, two former students, a family that my husband and stepchildren had dined with, laughed with, and even vacationed with just two months earlier – …
I never knew that Mexican food could become a part of my spiritual practice, but growing up I began to equate chicken soft tacos with church. In a small town, there aren’t many restaurant options. However, during middle school we were finally blessed with a restaurant named “Little Mexico.” I’m not really sure when it happened, but at some point it became understood that Little Mexico would be the central …
At the ripe old age of twenty-two, I found myself pulled out of my shiny new classroom for a day of Family Life Education (FLE) training with dozens of other new hires in Fairfax County. I have to admit that when I chose a career in elementary education it never occurred to me that along with stem-and-leaf plots, I’d also be tasked with guiding tomorrow’s youth through the treacherous week …
