For the past 12 years, I’ve called myself a “stay-at-home mom.” Last fall, my youngest started kindergarten and, as he headed off to school, I did also. I started substitute teaching. A few years ago, I started writing and speaking. About that time, I started to ask myself questions about each of these vocations.

In all of my vocations, I struggled to define what a successful day, year, or lifetime would look like. I’ve come up with ideas, but they often shift with experience, the realization of responsibility, or even my mood.

As a sinful human being, I rely on the Holy Spirit to help me respond with grace when I am under pressure. I have often fallen short on this. I’ve responded without grace or a caring heart toward my neighbor. I have lashed out, said unkind things, and made situations worse. I am clearly not an authority on responding correctly to stressful situations.

We hear some Scripture passages more than others over the course of our Christian lives, especially the Gospel stories surrounding Jesus’s birth, death, and resurrection. One of these is the account of the resurrected Jesus appearing to the disciples, cooking them fish on the beach, and restoring His relationship with Simon Peter after Peter’s denial.

Have you ever felt like time is just slipping away? Maybe it’s time to rethink and slow down! Adele Werner shares her reflections on the benefits of stepping back and slowing down.

Reading is a great activity all year round, but especially in the summer! With school out, the sun setting later in the evening, and the days lasting longer, summer is a great time to head to the library or online bookstore to stock up on summer reads. Whether you set a specific summer reading goal or want to start reading together as a family, there’s always a great new book for you to dive into.

Rest can be promised to one another, yet those promises are not always kept.  My children promise me rest when they assure me they will get their chores done. The time they spend doing chores would open time for me to rest on my back deck with a book—if they did them.

When I first became a follower of Christ, I was not very biblically literate. I had a very basic understanding of the Bible as a whole. I knew the bullet points of how we historically got to Jesus and beyond to His Church, but I’d never really read Scripture and definitely hadn’t studied it.

The epic saga of Joseph and his brothers spans thirteen chapters of the Book of Genesis, and most Christians are familiar with it. Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery, where he suffers and then rises to power in Egypt. A famine forces his brothers to come to him in search of grain; and after an extensive back-and-forth to assess if his brothers have changed, Joseph reveals his identity and forgives them. It’s a glorious picture of how God can work through even the worst betrayal and suffering to bring about salvation (in this case, literal, physical salvation from starvation) and healed relationships.

Many people adopt spiritual disciplines during the season of Lent instead of, or in addition to, giving up something. Whether you are reading an extra devotion or incorporating prayer into your daily routine, adding spiritual disciplines to your life during Lent can be a great way to grow closer to God and deepen your faith in and dependence on Him.

The following is a brief guide to the traditional seasons of the Church and the liturgical calendar. This introduction is a perfect starting point for learning about the Divine Service throughout the year and an easy hub for reviewing what you’ve learned!