On my daily dog walks, I’ve been keeping an eye on a budding and blooming bush in a neighbor’s front yard. It first caught my attention when I stepped past it to get a closer look at a small garden angel. Perched on a low rock wall on a grey winter day, this lonely sentinel … Continue reading What’s Your Color Palette?
Author: Siv Ricketts
Hi, I'm Siv (pronounced "See-v") Ricketts, & I'm so glad you're here. In this space & on Instagram, I write to encourage you to have hope, seek beauty, and live joyfully. I have BA’s in English and Communication from Westmont College and an MDiv from Fuller Theological Seminary. I have focused my career working in and writing for the Church as a youth director, a communication director, and a freelance writer/editor. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area with my husband, two sons, and a menagerie of pets. You can also find me on Instagram (@sivricketts).
Reading: February 2021
Do you always finish reading the books you start? I read three chapters of Kristin Hannah's Firefly Lane - almost word-for-word the one episode of the Netflix series I watched - and returned it to the library. Maybe if I hadn't seen the show I'd have stuck with the book, but I didn't want to … Continue reading Reading: February 2021
Lent 2021 Bookstack
As much as I love books, I don’t often post cover pictures. Partly because I’ve been reading on my Kindle, and it's difficult to take a picture of a digital bookstack. And partly because I don’t post until I’m done reading and know what I want to say about the book(s). However, I have no … Continue reading Lent 2021 Bookstack
Lent 2021: Explore Playful Practice
“...Lent is a speed bump in the church year, inviting us into reflection, confession, and prayer as we approach Holy Week and Easter, a time when we remember the profound costliness of God’s abundant love for us.” --Susan Phillips, PhD, Executive Director of New College Berkeley Image by Trevor M from Pixabay I love the … Continue reading Lent 2021: Explore Playful Practice
Not a Failure
When have you felt like a failure? I awoke this morning from a terrible, vivid dream. Obviously, the dream’s dystopian events are fictional, but the feelings it evoked linger like creepy-tingling nightmarish fog fingers from a supernatural horror movie. I know exactly what the dream meant: I feel like I’m failing. I feel helpless to … Continue reading Not a Failure
Questions & More Questions
It rarely happens, but my words have stopped flowing. Not entirely, as I have experienced sudden word-gushes that burst in one direction or another. But the regular flow of words that lands in daily 20 minute journaling sessions and twice-weekly blog posts and daily social media posts...that flow has dammed up, leaving only trickles seeping … Continue reading Questions & More Questions
Super Bowl Service Project
I am not a sports enthusiast. In general, the only sports I enjoy enough to sit through fall in this order: any sport my kids play (especially rugby), the Olympics (mostly for the personal interest stories), World Cup soccer (when we spent a summer in Costa Rica), and figure skating (because grace). Football died for … Continue reading Super Bowl Service Project
Reading: January 2021
My reading year started strong with two non-fiction books that offer important, striking social criticism, both 5 stars in my opinion. I finished out the month with four novels, the best of which was a book I hadn't expected to read (Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld). What books have surprised you recently? Book titles link to … Continue reading Reading: January 2021
5 Healthy Habits for 2021
Last year I set a goal to drink more water. I wobbled for a while before the habit took hold. Initially, my skinny water bottle needed to be filled 4 times each day to meet my goal and I kept losing track - was I on bottle #3 or #4? Eventually, I recognized the bottle … Continue reading 5 Healthy Habits for 2021
The River Flows Onward: My Word for 2021
When stay-at-home orders last March yanked all routines out from under our feet, I fell hard. Which makes sense: as an Enneagram 4, my creative spirit both resists and requires routine. Any routine, even as simple as the imposed time structure around my son’s school day. I don’t do transitions well - it takes me … Continue reading The River Flows Onward: My Word for 2021