Wintersβ Day In
Spilling the tea since 2006. Wanna cuppa?
Conversations on life, faith, stories, music, and creativity from author and songwriter (and aspiring mermaid) Talena Winters.
Pants are optionalβbut theyβre a start
When everything extraneous has been stripped from your life by a loss, and you are left naked and broken, sometimes just getting your pants on in the morning is a big deal. But you look for those moments that you see progress, too. Moving forward, whether in small steps, or giant leaps--in the end, that's the only thing I can really ask of myself.
What I Wish I Could Tell You
Dear Munchkin...
I can't tell you how many things this year I wish you could have done with us, or the things I wanted to show you. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to hold you close or hear your laugh. I can't tell you how broken I feel without you here.
I learned so much from being your mama. And by God's grace, I am learning still,
Endings and Beginnings
As a reader, I always thought that the ending was the goal. And it is. But it never occurred to me that it was the well-written middle that actually got me there as inevitably as a cart on a roller coaster track.
If only life had someone writing me out of my "swampy middles."
The Uncomfortable Truth
Are we in control of our destiny? Or is God? And who is to blame when things go wrong?
The Cost of Talent
I am a strong believer in being the best person you can be. Not in some humanist, "you-aren't-living-unless-you-achieve-your-full-potential" way. But in an "I'm-grateful-for-the-person-I-am" way.
Are you grateful for the talents you have?
Being Variegated: Embracing my Inner "Jill of All Trades"
Over the years, I have often wished I could be one of those people who could just focus on one thing and get really good at it, and was frustrated trying to do that over and over. It's about time I accepted myself just the way I am. Are you like this, too?
Choosing Belief
Even though I don't understand the reason, I still believe. Like Job, I choose to believe despite the uncertainty. And because I choose to believe, my grief is changing me for the good.
What San Francisco Taught Me About Love
So often we think that it is words as sharp and cold as icicles that will sink the deepest. But really, it is love sown through kindness and respect that opens hearts.
Blundering Forward
Moving forward is hard. Yes, the inexorable march of time moves us whether we want to move or not. But how do you "move forward" inside without feeling like you are leaving somethingβor someoneβprecious behind?
Boulders and Balloons: When Sharing Isnβt Caring
Being human is hard. There is so much pain involved in this thing called "life." But it is also joyful. What makes life easier is walking this road with other humans, and sharing those experiences of joy and pain with each other.
But there is a time and place for everything.
My Greatest Fears
When your worst fear comes true, thereβs no such thing as βgetting over itβ anytime soon. You discover who you really are, and what you really believe. Written less than two weeks after losing our youngest son.
Keep the Strawberries, Kick the Cinquefoil
We all have "cinquefoil" in our lives. Eventually, though, we have to stop and examine the things we fill our lives with and ask, "Is this still of value to me? Is this something I want to nurture right now?"
The High Cost of Inspiration
What makes someone inspiring? And why would I want to be that, too?
An Open Letter to Matt Walsh and My Fellow "Christians"
Let's re-imagine a key scene from the gospels together, shall we?
The gathered crowd shouted in a frenzy of righteous indignation. Shouts of "stone her" and "kill the b__" rose into a cacophonic haze of hatred that all centred on the one young woman, barely clothed, who trembled in terror on the rough ground at their centre.
The Teacher started making his way through the crowd, and when men and women saw the look on his face, they fell back from his path in silence, wondering what he was going to do.
The woman squinted up at him, too, wondering what new terror was upon her.