• Heartprints

    Why Introverts Make Great Parents

    In my ninth-grade P.E. class, we wrote down positive attributes for each of our classmates. My teacher assigned two of us—me and one other student—to compile the responses. Combing through the answers, I was surprised to find some people described as “shy.” I chose to leave it off. I am an introvert, but I hate the word shy. Honestly, I am not even sure I like the way “quiet” is often used. Both tend to have pejorative meanings in American society. Our culture tends to worship the extroverted ideal, doesn’t it? In Susan Cain’s bestseller, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, she emphasizes how…

  • Engage

    Two Reasons We’re Celebrating Forty Years Together

    We were young and deeply in love. Making big promises we had no idea what it would take to keep. Maybe that is part of God's grace. We don't know what we don't know. But before long we began to get an idea.   Jack and I share so much. We are both strong personalities. ("This will not be a boring marriage," said our pre-marriage counselor-pastor.) We are both thinkers. I love discussing books, movies and ideas, talking theology and politics with him. We both enjoy travel adventures together, and back when I could ski we delighted in riding the lifts and swooshing down the mountains together.   But in…