The wisdom of Nike–and God–for writers and everyone else

April 16, 2014.Reading time 4 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep “Why are you here instead of writing?” Author Brett Lott opened his session with this deeply disturbing question at the Festival of Faith and Writing last week. In preparation for the three-day event, I had asked God to speak to me through one of the conference keynotes–to clarify his will for my writing […]

Life, Death; Sun, Snow; Hello, Goodbye

February 10, 2014.Reading time 7 minutes.

by Amanda Cleary Eastep February 8, 2014 My grandmother died this morning as I awoke. People share their sympathies with me via Facebook, “Liking” my post that announces my grandmother’s passing and requests prayer. On social media, we can broadly share our grief, reach out to friends and family and instantly receive condolences, assurances of […]

Why in the night sky are the lights hung?

January 27, 2014.Reading time 5 minutes.

Why in the night sky are the lights hung? Why is the earth moving ’round the sun? Floating in the vacuum with no purpose, not a one. Why in the night sky are the lights hung? Why is life made only for to end? Why do I do all this waiting then? Why this frightened […]

Planting spinach in a snowstorm

January 5, 2014.Reading time 2 minutes.

It’s only January 5. And day two of another snow storm in Chicago. Not one to be thwarted from anticipating planting season by a foot of snow, I remembered that I have these two lovely empty tea tins from Trader Joe’s just begging to be filled with dirt. While shopping for storm supplies, i.e. […]

The silence of Christmas

December 24, 2013.Reading time 2 minutes.

I chose moments this Christmastime to be silent. (Right now my husband is saying, Where was I?) By that I don’t mean I wasn’t DOING something, but they were intentional acts that bring me a feeling of peace. Wrapping gifts while listening to Christmas music, baking my grandmother’s butter cookies. I was longing for some traditional […]

The work of her hands

October 28, 2013.Reading time 1 minute.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep As a child, my grandmother worked in the truck patches of vegetables her family grew on their rented farm in Southern Illinois. Whether from planting or harvesting or picking off bugs to drop into buckets of kerosene, the calluses that lined her palms like small pebbles were a source of pride. […]

Everything turn, turn, turn

August 17, 2013.Reading time 3 minutes.

I used to watch that 45 rpm record spin on the turntable, the green apple label a blur as Mary Hopkin sang “to everything turn, turn, turn…there is season, turn, turn, turn…” And as my garden finally starts to yield fruit at the far end of this cool summer, a change of seasons is obvious in […]

A mother’s ode to wayward green children

July 10, 2013.Reading time 4 minutes.

As I dig in the dirt and plant seeds, yank weeds, water and watch things grow, I can’t help but consider how gardening is so much like raising children…the trials and the joys. I’m disappointed in my tomatoes. I started them from seeds. Watched amazed as they poked through the soil and cheered them on […]

How does your garden grow?

May 20, 2013.Reading time 3 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep The kale is in the ground…some of the plants–including tomatoes, peppers, and chamomile–that I started from seeds then transplanted several weeks ago when it STILL looked like this outside: Coincidentally, the last of this week’s planting marked the end of my husband’s first week at a new job and moving in […]

Putting Down New Roots–in dirt and in life

March 29, 2013.Reading time 3 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep Have you ever been transplanted? I was following my divorce in 2005. I couldn’t help but see an analogy today as I was transplanting the delicate seedlings that more quickly than expected outgrew the mini-starter trays. A few weeks ago I started seeds for kale, two varieties of tomatoes, hot peppers, and chamomile. The kale […]