Today our little Truth on the Tenth babe is one! For a full year we have been writing and reading together. Thank you for still being here and joining in for our 13th straight month. I started this project on my birthday so here we are again, a year older and (maybe) wiser. There is a song I play every year on my birthday by JJ Heller called, Growing Older, and it makes me feel confident and right about aging and at peace with the pace our lives travel by. I have been telling people (if they ask) that I am turning 40- which is true if you’re one of those overly-technical people who counts the first year of life as a year before babies turn one. But I turned 39 on Friday. I am unusually ready to turn 40 though, so maybe I just became one of those overly-technical people while writing this paragraph.
I purposely scheduled a call with my beloved spiritual director on the 10th. I started meeting with Kathy in 2020. She lives in Colorado, I live in Texas. We have never met face to face and perhaps we never will. What a wild world. Someone who means so much to me could also be someone I may never meet in person. Bonkers.
In the spirit of meeting people in person, I am flying to California next week. (Side note- after living in Southern California for years and living through fires and mudslides, I would much rather you stop reading this and pray for that area right now. Each time this happens I pray for no wind, miracle rain, and beauty from the literal and metaphorical ashes.) As of now, I am flying into Orange County to meet some new people. On a bit of a whim I applied for grad school at a couple of seminaries this fall and decided in December to enroll at Biola’s Talbot School of Theology to get a Masters in Divinity. Even though the degree will be earned entirely online and most likely take about a decade to complete (I will be taking my sweet time, class by class) I thought it would set me up well to attend the new student banquet to lock eyes and shake hands with some of my professors, advisors, and get a feel for the campus even though I will learn from my backyard-facing desk in Austin.
Face to face and locked eyes really matter to me. I notice that I am the best version of myself when I truly look at people- new parents I meet at basketball practice, the guy taking my order at Summermoon, or the woman helping to bag my groceries at Trader Joe’s. If I can see them (really see them) I feel like there’s a possibility they feel seen and valued by me and maybe, just maybe, by the God who promises to reside within me. Have you ever met someone secure enough in themselves, un-rushed enough in schedule, and others-focused enough in demeanor that their lingering eye contact almost makes you a bit uncomfortable? We work hard in many facets of our lives to remain hidden or unseen, so when someone goes out of their way to intentionally see us it can be unnerving and slightly wonderful at the same time.
That is my hope my 39th year. I don’t want to look away. I want to look straight at God and then straight at His people. I want to see, notice and capture the goodness of God and His creation all around me. I want to have the courage to sidestep the shame or embarrassment I feel making eye contact with others because in practice, finding their eyes means I am seen too when maybe I’d rather not be.
So yes. In person is a great direction for me in 2025. I want to go out my way to be in person with people I love or ones I want to meet, but I also want to be fully in person with whomever I am in front of at the moment. God always, Austin many hours of many of the days, our kids, yes, family, friends, neighbors, and strangers- any and all of them. If they are in front of me, I want to be fully there in front of them. With eyes that whisper, “you’re valuable” or a tone of voice that reminds them, “you matter.” I have a hunch that with every moment I take captive in this way, there will be equal amounts of value and love pumped into my soul by God and His people.
Where do you wish you were seen more? Maybe it’s in that area you begin with intention to see others and the rest may just take care of itself.
See you in Feb.
xoxo
Learning
I am capable of fully transitioning from my Yeti water bottle to an Owala. (Please, hold your applause. ) My kids have been on this bandwagon for years after my sis bought them each one for Christmas (thanks, Katie) but I really felt loyal to my ATX based Yeti. However, having a child old enough and big enough to sit in the front seat of my car next to me means out of habit she twirls my Yeti straw with her fingers. Am I the only one who wants to shoot to the actual moon in anger if someone touches what I will soon put in my mouth? No. Just no. And my new Owala has solved that gross problem for me. See? Lessons to be learned all around us, guys.
About hope from Jackie Hill Perry’s Passion talk. Still thinking about how she taught on this, what she said and how God used it. (All live streaming is available with a free login until January 31st and it’s in session 2.)
How to more properly wear the kind of socks that are cool at the moment.
To make some new dishes to spice up the Stock house dinner rotation.
Reading
One of my favorite books of this last year was The Gift of Limitations by Sara Hagerty. (Thank you, Hannah.) If you are a mom or feeling at all cramped by the natural boundaries in your world right now- read this. It’s beautifully written and in line with God’s economy more than the empty promises of the perceived limitlessness the world seems to offer.
My brother, Kyle, and sister in law, Madison, gave our kids The Book of Belonging: Bible Stories for kind and contemplative kids but it hasn’t left my desk (sorry kids.) I need to get another copy for them! It is a gorgeous book and kind and contemplative? Two of the greatest hopes for our kids and their futures. The questions after each story are profound. Have adored this.
Starting The Listening Life for my first seminary class and I already love it.
Listened to Embracing Rhythms of Work and Rest, Be Ready When Luck Happens, and The Overcomers. Liked them all. The first one being my favorite.
Praying
I started my yearly prayer reset and devotional and have been asking God for 11 specific things. I looked back at my list from last year (fully forgetting what I prayed by March) but was awed by God once again. He listens. He answers. It may not be how or when I think- but he is faithful and prayer is powerful- most consistently in the shaping of my own heart.
For LA as mentioned above.
For my mind! I have been freshly reminded how life-giving or death-delivering our thoughts can be and we indeed have a choice in what we think about.
That I would trust God.
Up to:
Both Remi and Rhodes are starting basketball for the first time. It is equal parts adorable and painful to watch.
Teaching the Bible to our awesome women at church. This time Galatians. Is it irreverent that I wanted to write, LFG Paul! ? Sorry, God.
Recovering from our Christmas break that somehow involved both 18 days of the flu running through our family and then LICE. Yes, lice. I have never dealt with this before and would rather not hear your stories, thanks. Turns out they thrive on clean heads so joke’s on me and my constant bathing of my children. I have since opened a laundry business with all my expedited expertise in this area.
Looking out our windows. I look out our only front window and see the last few leaves falling from our tree (we do fall in January here, y’all). I think about how much more I can see when there are no leaves. Winter can look bleak and bare, but it also makes sense to me that my hope to truly see God and His people would come during winter. There is a fierce clarity. A spiritual sobriety of sorts. I am both a little scared of it and so very ready for it.
Love you all,
K
Some love from when we were upright the last couple months :)
