Sticky Notes from the Universe You May Have Missed

February 2, 2016.Reading time 7 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep There were sticky notes everywhere. Just to make absolutely sure that the high school and college graduation party for my kids went off without a hitch, my mother had strategically placed important messages throughout the house. “pans for grilled food only” (read: don’t use these pans for E-coli-ridden raw meat holders […]

Liked These Best in 2015 You Did

December 31, 2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

“Impossible to see the future is.” – Yoda By Amanda Cleary Eastep We don’t know what 2016 will bring, but my year-end blog analytics gave me a chance to see what resonated with you in 2015 here at Living Between the Lines. THANK YOU for reading, liking, sharing, and commenting! If any of the Top 5 […]

Being Bob Cratchit: What Should You Carry into the New Year?

December 29, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep Bob Cratchit got fired from his low-paying job on Christmas Eve. Sure, it was a miserable job–the office was freezing in the winter, the hours were long, and he had only one day off each year. Christmas Day. And then there was his boss, Ebenezer Scrooge. As I watched A Christmas […]

“Do you know what I know?” The truth about the Three Wise Men

December 15, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep For me, it was more shocking than discovering Santa wasn’t real. Despite all the Christmas pageant memorization I endured growing up Lutheran, it wasn’t until high school when I realized that the Three Wise Men WERE NEVER AT THE MANGER. The whole nativity scenario my classmates and I had played out each Christmas Eve for proud […]

Why Advent Hope Is Way Better than Junior Prom Hope

November 30, 2015.Reading time 7 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep I REALLY wanted him to ask me to prom. I waited. And waited. And. Waited. Until one day, when it seemed all hope was lost, a nervous young man twitched his way over to my locker and sweated out an invitation to our junior prom. Except it was the wrong young […]

“Ordinary” Jesus Loves Turkey and Sinners

November 28, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep As I looked around our family table at Thanksgiving, I imagined Jesus sitting there. Probably at the head of the table. . .and after dessert, in Dad’s chair, because my father would so give up the microfiber recliner for his savior. We would have offered Jesus one of the drumsticks (before […]

Don’t forget to breathe! Hooking into the Big Breath

November 17, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

by Amanda Cleary Eastep I was lying on my side on the floor and toning my outer thighs alongside 10 other women, including my best friend, who was totally supportive of hitting Dairy Queen after our aerobics class. Our instructor, a petite and perky woman with saddlebags like…well, saddlebags…convinced me that if no amount of […]

The disquiet that calls you back to the fire

October 2, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

by Amanda Cleary Eastep My grandmother told me she could see their fires at night, dotting the dark rise of the bluff as her family’s wagon passed along the dirt road after the summer church revival. She told me you could hear their music, too, the strings weaving their way down the wooded hill. Music like […]

Leaping in Faith: A willing suspension of disbelief

September 29, 2015.Reading time 6 minutes.

By Amanda Cleary Eastep I’ve always wanted to skydive. To feel my heart about to come out of my mouth, to stop myself from vomiting upward into my own face, to fall and be yanked back in the nick of time. But leaping didn’t happen that way. I decided it would be way more fun […]

What Your Purpose Is Not

September 5, 2015.Reading time 5 minutes.

Purpose. No topic is too big for the #wholemamas. Follow us over at Erika Shirk’s Overflow blog. By Amanda Cleary Eastep Every night I take it to bed with me, wake up with it, and feel it breathing down my neck when I’m not giving enough attention to it. (No, it isn’t an overly affectionate labrador.) It’s my […]