There are words that hang in the air. Some words dissipate like vapor, but others linger, their full force felt weeks, months, or even years later as they settle in our minds and hearts. It’s the words that stay, the words that settle, the words that transform us that are the subject of Given. Given…
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Even though I didn’t set out to be a nomad, I’ve lived most of my life overseas. After spending time in Italy, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and Canada, I landed in Turkey with my family where we lived for fourteen years. I write about travel, art, faith, Scripture, and the relationship between Christianity and culture.
On My Grandmother’s 95th Birthday: A Blessing for the Dawn
My grandmother was born in 1924, the same year the lilting melody of “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin was first performed to a packed house in New York City. She is a member of the generation affectionately, nostalgically, deemed “the Greatest.” And indeed, she is great—great at loving long, great at making a life that is stable and meaningful. This is a blessing to mark her 95th birthday.
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A Portrait of Mary You’ve Never Seen
The first time I saw this portrait of Mary at Chora church in Istanbul, I had no idea what to make of it. Questions flooded my mind: What did it mean? Was there any significance in it’s placement over the door exiting the church? And most confounding: Why was Jesus holding a baby swaddled in white? Who was the infant in the Savior’s arms?
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Waking Up in Ephesus
The place where John’s body is buried is bathed in light. Literally. His grave is fully exposed to the rays of the sun from dawn to dusk. And when night falls, it basks in the lunar glow. For a couple hundred years John’s grave was sheltered by the dome of a magnificent basilica, but that…
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How the Meaning of the Hagia Sophia Made Me Rethink My New Year’s Resolution
What relevance could a 6th-century cathedral possibly have for the life of a 21st-century girl? That’s a fair question. But a visit to the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Turkey taught me that Christians from the past can speak into our present.
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Feeling Frayed? Me too. That’s Why We Need Advent
We still wander awed, says Annie Dillard, because this world is dear. And the people in it are beloved. We were made for this word, even in its splintered state. As we take in the ravages of our frayed and nibbled state, we don’t long for an ending. No, we long for renewal.
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When Weaving Becomes a Lens for Seeing Life
We cannot escape the reality that our identity—the fabric of our being—is very much made up by those who are woven into our lives. And many of the threads knit into us are not those we choose, but those that are given.
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Perfect Age in an Imperfect World: 7 blessings for my son
The first seven years of childhood are an intriguing mix of energetic exploration and tenderness, stubborn outbursts and loving affection, curiosity and innocence. And if there’s one thing I don’t want my son to lose as he steps into the next seven-year stretch, it’s his innocence. But I know that it’s the thing the culture is most likely to take from him. Here are 7 ways I’m praying for my son.
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A View from Way Up High: Summer with Ezekiel & Jeremiah
I’ve been reading back and forth between Ezekiel and Jeremiah—two prophets that I’m pretty sure had the most unenviable jobs in the world. God called them to speak words that no one in their day really wanted to hear. Worse still, he called them to deliver divine messages in ways that were bound to offend pretty much everyone. But God also gave them something extraordinary—he gave them a birds-eye view, or more precisely, he gave them a heavenly view.
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Sketches of Love: Postcards from My Father
Before we meet God as a sovereign, law giver, and judge, we meet him as Maker. Our very first impression of God in Genesis is as a creative, as a visionary. God sees formless chaos, and he envisions the world in all its organic wild gorgeousness. He takes the void and shapes it into something magnificent, something essentially good.
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Tina Boesch 