Reba Riley's Blog, page 10

Is God Aloof?

“What are we to do with a God who hides?” This is the question Tony Kriz asks in his book Aloof, and I must share that my immediate and visceral reaction to the question was: Wait, God doesn’t hide. Not in my life. Not anymore. The God I use to know, pre-Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome, that [Read More...]

Seven Things We Forget When Our Resolutions Fail

Our resolutions fail around the sixth day of January—or maybe the fifteenth if we’rereallydisciplined andreallyimaginative andreallymotivated—not because our inner child/artist/ is injured, or because we don’t actually want to change. (Even if our inner child is bleeding and our inner artist suffers from painter’s block, wedowant to change, dammit! Have you seen our credit card [Read More...]

The Special Forces Guide to Surviving Christmas

Does “First they tell you not to panic, and then they try to drown you,” sound like Christmas with your family? If so, this post is for you. “First they tell you not to panic, and then they try to drown you,” explains author Ben Sherwood in his fantastic book The Survivor’s Club: The Secrets [Read More...]

I Am Capable of Torture…And So Are You

We all are all horrified about the C.I.A.’s ‘Torture report’. We are all shocked at the brutality in the name of country, and the pain inflicted in the name of safety. We are also all capable of those acts—and worse. Though I believe we can and should judge the system critically to analyze what and [Read More...]

A Poem for Survivors

You are closer than you know More capable than you dream And more grace-filled than you dared believe. That which could not kill you Has not only made you stronger: It has also made you softer In beautiful ways. So take all that grit and bend Align it with the winds Of change headed your [Read More...]

#NoSmallDreams

I use this hashtag in my correspondence every time I mention a Really Audacious Goal. Since I have a whole bunch of Really Audacious Goals when it comes to this whole writing thing, our team sees #NoSmallDreams A LOT. #NoSmallDreams is intended to remind everyone, especially me, to ignore “the odds”–because in my heart of [Read More...]