I wasn’t able to get time for sharing interesting links last week, so I’ve got a lengthy list here. But perhaps you’ll find something of interest among them.

Ambushed by Beauty and Chicken Nuggets. Loved this. “It is humbling to work here, but not in the way that implies shame. Who am I to so readily dismiss a job where I witness the entire spectrum of human emotion during the course of a single shift? Who am I to think ill of this chance to observe – over and over again – the miracle of childhood and the poignancy of prayer? Who am I to think that the transcendent things that happen every night in a southern Virginia fast food joint are in any way of lesser importance than those that happen elsewhere?”

What If You’re Not as Awesome as You Think You Are? “An untroubled conscience might say less about our real character than it does about our lack of self-awareness.” We all have blind spots.

10 Marks of an Immature Believer.

Who’s Your Daddy? Quite interesting article about the Fatherhood of God and how fathers are often represented in literature. “But there’s a deeper reason for the absent/adversarial-dad theme, I think: the central conflict of humanity is that we’ve lost our Father.”

About church:

7 Lies You’ve Been Telling Yourself About the Church.

5 Tips for Enjoying the Church Prayer Meeting.

About marriage:

The REAL List For the Guy You Should Marry by my friend Ann.

Marriage Is More Than Feeling In Love. “Don’t sit around and wonder if you’re still in love with your spouse or if your spouse is still in love with you. Just love him.”

Six Things Submission Is Not.

About motherhood:

Better Than a Birth Plan. Despite our best plans, things don’t always work accordingly, especially when giving birth. We need to be careful not to make other women feel “less than” if they didn’t have the type of delivery we idealize.

How to Love Being a Mom. Because some days, it’s really hard.

Is Your Child In Charge of Your Home?

Mom and Dad, Your Job Is Not Over. “There are very few griefs for a parent greater than a child who turns away from the gospel faith in which they were raised.”

7 Rules For Online Engagement. Yes.

Dear World: Let’s Stop Giving Our Crap to the Poor. Though I hate the word “crap,” I do appreciate the points she makes.

In Praise of Administration. As someone who prefers “behind the scenes” ministry, I appreciated this affirmation that it is just as needed as the “out-front” kinds.

An Introvert’s Guide to Having People Over.

101 Generation-Bridging, Boredom-Busting Activities For Grandparents And Grandchildren. In case you can’t think of anything to do. 🙂

Fatal Illusions by my friend Adam Blumer is on sale for the Kindle for 99 cents for a time. My review is here. Also The Tenth Plague, which was originally only published in an e-format, is coming out in paperback in April. My review of that and an interview with Adam is here. I enjoyed both books quite a lot. If you like mysteries, give them a try!

47 Photos That Capture How Much Nancy Reagan Loved Ron. I always loved how she looked at him when he spoke. Near the end there is a neat video of a time when he surprised her on her birthday when she was speaking somewhere. I miss them.

And to end with a smile:

Happy Saturday!

(Updated to add: please don’t take any link here as an endorsement of the whole site it comes from. Some of these are from blogs I read regularly, some are from links I saw elsewhere. I try to give a “hat tip” to the source but I don’t always remember to note it. I wouldn’t knowingly send readers to a site where there was a problem without mentioning it, but in many of these cases I have just read and liked the one article without having the time to check out all the rest.)