What are the doors like in your house? The front and back doors of my house are painted a jolly white, with six little farmhouse windowpanes in each. If someone knocks on the door, you can easily see who came to visit. There's no straining to see out a peephole or standing on my tippy-toes to assess the identity of an unexpected visitor. The bad part—there's no hiding from anyone either. If you walk near the door to see who it is, your long shadow will fall across the curtains and signify that someone is home. If you tried to crouch down and avoid someone, the sound of your footsteps would be all too obvious. Can you picture me doing this? Squatting down low enough, like I'm playing a game with my two-year-old, hiding from the eye of my visitor?

After school is homework time at my house. The kids are working on their homework, and as I tell them, “Mom has some homework too.” So they work through math problems, reading assignments, and memory work while I tackle emails or other work projects that need to be addressed before the end of the day. Recently, during our homework time, I perked up when my eight-year-old said, “Alexa, open the Small Catechism.” Alexa greeted him, then Connor asked, “Alexa, what is the Second Commandment?”

In this edition of the Writers' Roundtable, we sat our authors down to talk about how speaking engagements can impact their writing and engage readers. Our authors also shared a few best practices they have discovered along the way.

Every single one of us has something that our spouse does that grates on our last nerve. My husband quietly endures my need to walk around with a book open first thing in the morning; while I get dressed, while I make breakfast, sometimes even while I’m tying my shoes for a run. I also have this absurd need to have someone else fill my water bottle. I simply cannot do it for myself. For whatever reason, I like someone doing it for me. My husband and family answer to my cries of “I need water!” and fill my bottle, sometimes kindly, sometimes begrudgingly. It’s weird, but it’s me, and I’m a work in progress.

We inherited great-grandma Gigi’s giant dining room table. It came complete with four leaves, six chairs, and a tiny dot-to-dot print of a house from my mother-in-law’s craft project gone awry. Our table is a huge blessing to me, not because of the weight of the cherry wood or the pretty carving on each chair. It is a blessing because it allows me to gather my family all in one place, even for just a moment, safe and secure.

At a time when the world endures the pain and devastation of sin, the music of the church provides a special comfort. The life of Johann Sebastian Bach, a Lutheran composer of renown, comes to mind on this day, the anniversary of his death, as his music shaped generations of Church music around the world.  This special excerpt from Celebrating the Saints on the life of Johann Sebastian Bach includes a brief biography and ends with a prayer asking God's continued blessings from Bach's and other composer's music:

I returned home from a conference this week. I left careful instructions for my family—mail two letters that needed to go out immediately, eat up the food in the fridge, don’t watch copious amounts of TV, and attempt to keep the house picked up.

This prayer has been well loved by the church for years. Luther’s words accompany many of us each night as we talk with God. As Lutherans, we learn this prayer in childhood.

Luther's morning prayer has been well loved by the church for years. Luther’s words accompany many of us each morning as we talk with God.

The requests continue for help to teach and lead discussion for my novel, Discovered in The Messengers series. And I’m so happy to oblige! I’ve heard that both adult and youth book clubs alike are reading this book (yay!), so I’ll try to touch on some activities and ideas that could apply to both situations. As a leader of your book club (or teacher who is going with a book club vibe for your unit), you’ll want to adapt according to your group.