Inspired By.

“There’s something sacred about reading a blog post on someone else’s site. It’s like visiting a friend’s house for a quick meal ’round the breakfast table. It’s personal — you’re in their space, and the environment is uniquely suited for idea exchange and uninterrupted conversation. In many ways, we should be treating our blogs like our breakfast tables. Be welcoming & gracious when you host, and kind & respectful when visiting.” – Trent Walton, via Swiss Miss.

I've been incredibly blessed over the last three years since starting this blog. I am being completely honest when I tell you that never once, no matter what I've posted, has anyone written a terrible comment here. I've deleted a few spammy ones here and there, but no one has ever left an anonymous insult or criticized me harshly. I've shared a lot about my life here - about losing my job, about being in therapy, about being a newlywed, about being under-employed, about losing my mom. I've written about my iTunes account getting hacked and losing $800, I've whined endlessly about my lot in life as a writer and I've revealed a lot insecurity. Sometimes I get crickets, but most times I just get encouragement. 

This week I shared an article on Prodigal, and it was one of the hardest things I've ever written. It reveals a lot of what I'm struggling with in-the-moment, and I cried through every word I wrote. I shared a lot about my faith and my lack of it. And the response was overwhelmingly positive. 

Thank you.

When so many things in life - my jobs, my relationships, my family, my self - have felt broken, this space has given me peace, assurance, a place to dwell in the positive, to enjoy the good things. It's because of you, dear readers. I'm happy to have you to chat with around my "breakfast table" of a blog. 

Here are a few delightful pieces I found from other positive spaces around the web this week. Enjoy. 

A tactful guide on commenting etiquette.

5 Reasons I Didn't Retweet You.

"Patience is bitter, but its fruits are sweet." - Jean Jacques Rousseau. A Writer's Most Important Virtue.

Want to do meaningful work? Keep reading. (Some seriously scary stats on the decline of literacy in adulthood.)

What a Life! Happy birthday, Maya Angelou.

Voices of our loved ones.

"I believe in building relationships. All kinds, any kind, if only because it instills a bit of purpose, however small, into the everyday." On being a dedicated, brings-all-her-friends kind of patron.

And because it's just really funny and completely accurate : Kate weighs in on the leggings-as-pants controversy.

[Photo.]