This One Question Can Help Focus Your Life on What Really Matters
Pick up a typical self-help book and it won’t be long before the author tells you to Follow your dreams. As a dreamer, I love this advice. But not everyone is a dreamer. What do you follow then? It seems to me there’s a more important quest for both dreamer and non-dreamer alike, which is to pursue what matters most. But how can we unearth what that is? In the busyness of the everyday, how can we discern what we should focus on? Here’s a question that can help. More…
Why and How to Do a Mini Pilgrimage
This year as many as 300 million people will go on a pilgrimage. What’s interesting is that this figure has been rising every year for the past decade, and it’s not only religious people who are doing it. Why are so many everyday people feeling the call to make a ‘meaningful journey to a sacred place’? In this post and video I’ll explore some answers, plus give you four steps to plan a mini pilgrimage of your own. More…
Busyness is a Bully, Comparison is a Tyrant. I Say, Enough
Busyness is a bully at the best of times, stomping around, wanting the playground to itself, chasing peace away first, then patience, kindness, joy, and self-control. But this bully becomes a tyrant when it teams up with comparison. Here’s how the two work together. Let’s say ‘enough!’ to their lies. More…
Marry Your Trial with Your Talent to Bring Something New into the World
I made a number of discoveries while writing The Making of Us, one of the most impacting being that the trials of life can release our best gifts into the world. All it takes is some creative merging of those trials with our God-given talents. In this short video I unpack the idea with some examples to help you start thinking about what this might look like for you. More…
Discover Who You Can Become When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned
When life takes one too many unexpected turns, do you find yourself saying, “I don’t know who I am anymore”? In the wake of shattered dreams, do you wonder how you will keep going—and if you’ll ever find purpose or joy again? Part pilgrim’s journal, part call to reflection, The Making of Us reminds us of the beauty of journeying into uncertainty, the freedom of letting go, and the wonder of losing our identity only to discover who we really are. More…
May I Read My Book to You? Listen Now to The Making of Us Audiobook!
What makes us who we are? How do we adjust when things don’t go as we hoped? Can we recover if we make a choice that’s less than perfect? In The Making of Us I explore these questions and more by telling a story of two friends walking through the rugged beauty of England’s north. May I read some of this story to you? The Making of Us releases on March 19 (April 16 in Australia) in paperback and now in audiobook too! Here are the first two chapters for you to listen to FREE. I can’t wait for you to hear the bit where God shows up in the motel room. And when I get to walk on the clouds. And when the seals start singing. And when I start to discover there’s more to us than our job titles. Go on. Take a listen. More…
The Hand That Spins the Galaxies Wants You Here. Introducing The Creed
One autumn morning not long ago, I walked to an Oxford cafe, took a window table, and pulled out my journal. I wanted to craft a statement – a creed of sorts – that would pull together what I’d learned while writing my new book The Making of Us. Something that captured what matters most in life. Something to read regularly to guide me forward. After many scribbled phrases and crossings out, I arrived at this: The Creed. Today we release it publicly, crafted into a beautiful video by Tyler Jackson, and ready to download as a print for your wall or smartphone. The hand that spins the galaxies wants you here… More…
Life has Three Journeys. The Second is the Hardest, But it Can Transform You
In his insightful little book The Second Journey, Gerald O’Collins divides life into three phases. The first is from childhood to adulthood, the third from old age to death. In between is the ‘second journey’: a path of great restlessness, questioning and even disillusionment that can nonetheless transform us for good. Here’s an overview of the Second Journey and what can result when it’s travelled well. More…
Get More from The Making of Us
There are many lessons hidden within The Making of Us story, lessons that can help you become the person you are made to be. To help unearth and apply them to your life, here are some practical exercises, podcasts and other tools you might find helpful. More…
So Excited to Show You This! Unveiling My Next Book, The Making of Us
A few months ago I let you in on a little secret—I’ve been working a new book these last couple of years about who we are and what we can become. Today I’m excited to officially share with you the title and cover design! The Making of Us: Who We Can Become When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned will roll out across the globe from March 2019. Here’s a little about it, some of the fun things planned, and the goodies you can expect in the coming weeks. More…
