Circling the Story’s Top 5

There’s so much chatter and static and noise inside our heads and around us — especially this time of year. (Does anyone else have their To Do list on a constant internal loop? Or is that just me?) My hope and prayer for you, my dear reader, is that this season would be full of hope and light and breath. Little things that communicate care and consideration — whether that’s the joy of reading a graceful sentence, a hot steaming cup of tea, a thoughtful present from a loved one, a flickering candle, or even a moment of stillness. I hope you find something small to hold on to, to keep you going. Because it’s not the grand gesture that speaks volumes, it’s the showing up, day-in and day-out, that communicate care. Maybe something here could give you that little something to mull over, words to cup into your hands and heart as you end the year. Here are Circling the Story‘s Top 5 posts; the posts that readers keep reading and sharing. I hope you’ll take a look. Drumroll…. 5. Stories save us: “As I walked the paths of the bookstore, lingering by enticing covers and feeling the heft of what-might-be in my hands, I really was longing for redemption.” 4. Am I enough? The god of the scale: “Every morning I strip down and step on the scale and I look to its numbers to tell me what I’m worth. With the softness of a belly that has swollen and receded four times, I ask it to tell me if I’m okay, if I measure up.” 3. Real Food + Real People = World Changed: A manifesto about the simply subversive act of having people in your home for dinner. Real food, vulnerability, get people to help out; rinse and repeat. 2. That’s the book I need to write: Yep, I’m working on a book. “It’s about how places sink into our souls, about how we learn to be a part of places […]. It’s about daily little liturgies of walking your kids to and from school, of bumping into friends at the supermarket and about feeling a sense of your own smallness in big places.” 1. Red cup righteousness: My most-read post this year. “We think that the red paper cup holds out relief, or validation, or just respite from the weariness of the daily.”

I hope you’ll have a very restful Christmas — that even in the chaos, you’ll take time to savor the moments of truth and beauty, even if (and when) it’s hard, or ugly or unlovely. Those moments are the ones that help to grow us into even more beautiful and graceful people. Thank you for reading Circling the Story dear friends! I hope something I’ve written has been encouraging to you; if it has, please consider sharing. See you in 2015! Love, Ashley