Are you Lenting?
As the subtitle says, my book ‘Sinning on Sundays’ helps provide tools for a ‘little less religious Lent for leaders.’ ‘Forty days of prayer, fasting and giving in anticipation of Resurrection Sunday!’ In the midst of our fast-paced world, high-impact leaders are turning to the timeless traditions of Lent for inspiration, renewal, and purpose. Miranda Tollenaar writes […]
Three lessons about self-publishing
Curious to hear what it’s like to self-publish a book? Below are a few reflections after my first hand experience… Let me know what you think in the comments! Patience and Persistence Pay Off Self-publishing taught me that success is a journey, not an overnight destination. Patience and persistence are key. Embrace the process, learn […]
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! MONDAY January 1, 2024. The paradoxical tension between a Mundane Monday, and the allround accepted symbol of a Fresh Start. Business as usual or a clean slate. You decide. Below are a few questions I’ve been asking myself and I’d love to invite you to join me… 2023 has been a challenging […]
Merry Christmas!
Do you know why I love the shortest day of the year so much? Every next day there is increasingly more daylight! It changes everything. Sounds familiar? There is a beautiful phrase from the book of Isaiah that is quoted a lot around this time of the year. “Of the increase of His government there […]
Fourth Advent: Love
LOVE There’s one Dutch tradition we ditched pretty quickly after moving from the Netherlands to Italy. Some of our Dutch friends are about to be shocked. Sinterklaas didn’t make it. Ask me why later. We now enjoy giving each other gifts around Christmas instead. Two days ago I returned from teaching in a Discipleship Training […]
Third Advent: Joy
JOY Monday morning I woke up to a powerful bright light in our bedroom and the voices of Rianne and our kids singing happy birthday songs to me! They still claim it was our normal bedroom light, but I’m convinced they brought a floodlight from the nearest construction site as a last attempt to finally […]
Second Advent: Peace
PEACE The absence of conflict? When the last bullet has been fired and all weapons have been laid down? We hear about ‘peace talks’ and see images of important looking people shaking firm hands with sincere faces. Last week I wrote about the word ‘Hope’ for the first of four themes for the four Sundays […]
First Advent: Hope
HOPE Hope requires creativity. The ability to see a different future than the reality that is now. Activating hope involves engaging the imagination. Daring to hope includes a good portion of risk that things may not eventually turn out to be as you imagine they will be. Risk to be disappointed. There is a HOPE […]
Up Next: My First Book!
Dreams without a plan are an illusion. I’ve been dreaming about writing a book and one way to start moving towards a plan is to surround yourself with people that can work out a plan that’s ambitious enough to keep it challenging, but also realistic enough to keep you motivated. So this is happening. My […]
Happy Dopamine-Day
Thanksgiving is a powerful thing. Not the holiday. Well, that too. I like the holiday. It’s nice. Probably our favourite ‘adopted’ holiday of the year. But thanksgiving, gratefulness, gratitude… It’s powerful! When we practice thanksgiving or gratefulness we activate a part of the brain that is associated with cognitive and emotional processes and it releases […]