Is this the world you want? You’re making it, every day you’re alive —Switchfoot, “The World You Want” These past few days have been heavy heavy heavy on my heart. I can’t stop thinking about Charlottesville. I can’t stop reading about it or listening about it on the news. I ache, and America aches. … More For The Aching Hearts
You can sit in the pine trees, you can feel at home You can breathe a sigh of silence in the woods. —Jake Bugg, “Pine Trees” This summer, my name is Apple, and I’m working as a counselor at Tomahawk Ranch Girl Scout Camp in the pine tree wonderland of Bailey, Colorado. Being a camp … More Apple in Summer
Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you. For the first time in all my 19 years of life, I left the United States and entered—body and soul—into a new country. I physically stepped through the San Ysidro Port of Entry into Mexico with all of my … More Abre Mis Ojos
Desert sky, dream beneath a desert sky The rivers run but soon run dry, we need new dreams tonight. —U2 This past weekend, I went backpacking for the very first time in Joshua Tree National Park. I can honestly say that I have never felt a more authentic oneness with nature than what I experienced in … More Creatures of Longing
When there’s a burning in your heart, an endless fury in your heart Build it bigger than the sun, let it grow, let it grow. —Death Cab For Cutie Thank you, 2016, for reminding me to be a dreamer. For reminding me of the grandeur and glory of having a hope and clinging to it with every musical cell in … More Year of the Dreamer
And the foxes in the vineyard will not steal my joy Because you are good to me, good to me… —Audrey Assad I need to write today because thankfulness is radiating in my heart. More so than any other … More Thankfulness
I am in love with the Ocean, lifting her thousands of white hats in the chop of the storm, or lying smooth and blue, the loveliest bed in the world. In the personal life, there is always grief more than enough, a heart-load for each of us on the dusty road. I suppose there is a reason for this, so I will be patient, … More Life By The Sea
Whatever fills up your time, there you will find art. Only in the West where we measure artistic success by the number of Twitter followers or likes we get do we believe that real art only happens when it’s celebrated by thousands. I say find art in everyday life and you’ll begin to speak miraculous … More Why I Write
Show me the freedom from these chains Show me a battlefield that saves That world is still a world away, but you are my liberty —Switchfoot I remember a few weeks before school ended, I … More More Than My Body
The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing to find the place where all the beauty came from. —C.S. Lewis “There it is! Good ol’ Thermopolis!” My dad’s shrill hillbilly yell jolted me from my pleasant backseat nap. I … More Beautifully Bizarre
