Tag: The Rabbit Room

Links for the Weekend (2026-03-06)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

Six Gospel Antidotes to Anxiety

As this article says, “We live in an anxious world.” But the Bible speaks to anxiety! Brady Hanssen writes about the portions of the Sermon on the Mount relevant to those who are anxious.

In verse 27, Jesus asks, “And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” The answer is obvious: nobody. Anxiety accomplishes nothing; in fact, it is counterproductive. Psalm 139:16 reminds us, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” The Lord has sovereignly ordained the number of our days before we were even born. Worrying about our life will not extend it beyond the days that God has given us.

How Do You Know If You Are Called to Write a Book?—Five Questions Every Artist Should Ask

Andy Patton had a conversation on a podcast with Will Parker Anderson about vocation and calling. (At that link is a written summary of the highlights.) Even for non-artists and non-writers, this might be helpful for thinking about what God might have you do.

God is personal, present, and near. He wants us to walk in His way, and He has given us means of discernment. Some people have dramatic, unmistakable moments of calling. Most do not. For most of us, calling is discovered through prayer, patterns, community, Scripture, desire, slow obedience—and, to be honest, simply trying things and stumbling around.

Hillside Vigil

Our poem of the week: Hillside Vigil, by Thomas McKendry. This is a quiet, sobering poem about a man mourning by a grave.

On the WPCA Blog This Week

This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Context Matters: Bear One Another’s Burdens. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

Thanks to Phil A for his help in rounding up links this week!

Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

Links for the Weekend (2026-02-27)

Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

4 Practical Tools to Help You Pray

Sometimes we talk about prayer in the abstract. (And this can be helpful!) Courtney Reissig wrote an article to help us put prayer into practice.

Let’s get really practical about the “how” of prayer. Different strategies will work for different people, but I want to show you practical ways I’ve found to be helpful in making my prayer time more intentional. The point is not for you to replicate what has worked for me but to find something that works for you.

How do I know when my actions are a result of sin in my heart or because of bodily weakness?

Mike Emlet (from CCEF) answers this question about the connection between sin and our bodies in a video. (There is a transcript as well.)

The most accurate way to conceive of our human makeup is that we are constituted as a duality—body and soul. The Bible uses terms like soul, spirit, and heart interchangeably to refer to the immaterial aspect of our personhood. But how should we understand the relationship between the immaterial and material aspects of our personhood, and how might that help us answer the question regarding sin?

Elegy for a Tow Truck Driver

Our poem of the week: Elegy for a Tow Truck Driver, by James Matthew Wilson. This is a poem demonstrating love and curiosity for someone the speaker didn’t quite get to know.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2025-12-19)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    Note: We will take a break from posting links next week (December 26) and will return with plenty of goodness on January 2, 2026. Merry Christmas!

    Make Repentance Part of Your Holiday Preparation

    This short Advent meditation, written by Betsy Childs Howard, helps us reflect on the call of John the Baptist: repentance is the best way to prepare for the kingdom of heaven.

    Repentance may be a kind of death, but it leads us to new life. The heart of the Christian faith isn’t making ourselves look better on the outside but having God truly cleanse our hearts.

    Cultivating Christmas Wonder

    John Stonestreet uses T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Cultivation of Christmas Trees” to help us think about Christmas. He urges us to cultivate wonder and expectant waiting.

    A childlike faith will allow us to see Christ’s birth in view of His death and Resurrection, as well as our roles as reconcilers in God’s unfolding story of reality. We thus can live in view of His return and triumphant reign. As Eliot put it, may Christ’s first coming fill us with hope for His second, when every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

    Four Advent Villanelles from Anna A. Friedrich

    Our poem(s) of the week: Four Advent Villanelles, by Anna A. Friedrich. All four of these are worth reading slowly and savoring.

    Thanks to Cliff L for his help in rounding up links this week!

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2025-10-24)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    What is Your Busyness Doing?

    Many of us feel too busy. But, as Alan Noble explains, some forms of busyness can have seriously negative spiritual consequences.

    It seems to me that busyness is deceptive. It often starts out virtuous, a courageous effort to manage the daily affairs of your life for the sake of your loved ones and to honor God—in the model of the ant. But the rhythms of hustle can overtake you. They can be seductive. There is a numbness that sets in when you are busy. Your mind is preoccupied with obligations and must-do’s and planning for the future so that sins, conflicts, problems, and issues in your life that aren’t directly related to your busyness get submerged, ignored. What started out virtuous seems to take up more and more space in your consciousness. You begin answering emails at all hours of the day. You check your phone constantly. You feel the need to stay “plugged in.” You feel uncomfortable when you aren’t actively doing something “productive.” This is acedia. And it’s tied to the refusal to believe that God is sovereign over all creation.

    Who Are the Righteous Mentioned Throughout the Psalms?

    Admit it—you’ve wondered who the Psalms are referring to when they mention “the righteous.” Christopher Ash is here to help.

    First, we struggle to know what to make of it when psalmists claim to be righteous, sometimes in quite strong terms. For example, the prayer “Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness / and according to the integrity that is in me” (Ps. 7:8) rather alarms us. What if the Lord did judge me according to my righteousness? He would find it severely wanting. Dare I pray this?

    In an Artist’s Studio

    Our poem of the week: In an Artist’s Studio, by Christina Rossetti. This is a sonnet about an artist and his love/subject.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2025-05-23)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    How do I find hope when I struggle with persistent sin?

    I appreciated the answer to this question by CCEF counselor Lauren Whitman. She talks about the struggle against sin and points us to hope in God’s mercy. (This link is to a video, and there is a transcript on the page as well.)

    So where sin is persistent, our Jesus is more so. When sin is persistent, Jesus’s love will not stop. He will persist in remaking you. He will prove to be doggedly more persistent than your sin. He is the most persistent person in the universe and he will have his way with you, and his ways are good, they’re for your good, and he will prevail over your sin. So every day, look to the one who has loved you and loves you with a persistent love. He is not giving up on you, and he never will. 

    How to Support the Caregivers in Your Church

    If you’ve never been a caregiver for someone who needs long-term help, you might not know the best way to support such a person. I’m glad that Simonetta Carr wrote this post to highlight some of the most needed areas.

    The best thing to do is to be present as faithful friends, ready to stick around, listen, and learn. Getting involved in the lives of caregivers and their loved ones may seem like a sacrifice, but it’s well worth it for everyone involved. If we are convinced that “the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Cor. 12:14), and each is necessary for the building up of the church, we will treat each other as such and—in the process—grow in maturity, love, and wisdom.

    The Windows

    Our poem of the week: The Windows, by George Herbert. This poem, written by a Christian poet in the 1600s, is about how our words must be combined with our life to point to God’s grace.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2025-05-16)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    Why Does God Make Us Wait for Good Things?

    Mark Vroegop says this is a fair question with uncertain answers. He helps us refocus, from wondering about why to looking at who. Waiting is for our good. (There is a video at this link as well as a transcript, so you can watch/listen or read, according to your preference.)

    Waiting is part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It’s part of what it means to trust that God knows what he’s doing. And so when you’re waiting for something good and it’s not coming, the hope and the comfort that the Bible offers to us, like from Psalm 27, is that our hearts can take courage as we wait on the Lord.

    The One Virtue Every Young Man Needs

    Trevin Wax writes about self-control, and he frames this virtue in terms of sanctification instead of stoicism.

    The gospel takes the ancient virtue of self-control and transposes it into a new key. It’s not first and foremost about you. It’s about God. It’s self-control in service of love. Love depends on self-control, yes, but love also deepens self-control. Love turns self-control upward and outward, toward God and toward others. It’s not about independence of self but dependence on God. It’s not about self-mastery; it’s about Spirit-mastery. It’s not about controlling yourself for your own sake; it’s about being controlled by Christ for the sake of others. It’s yielding to the One who loves you with an everlasting love and who wants now to love others through you.

    Two Poems

    I’m sharing two poems this week, both courtesy of the Rabbit Room Poetry Substack.

    • Mary and Eve, by Michael Stalcup — This poem is inspired by the illustration from Sister Grace Remington which imagines a meeting between Eve and a pregnant Mary.
    • Tell No One, by Elizabeth Wickland — This poem describes some of the wonders of spring and insists that they must be experienced (not just heard about) to be truly enjoyed.

    On the WPCA Blog This Week

    This week on the blog we published an article written by Maggie Amaismeier called Books and Podcasts, May 2025. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2025-03-14)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    Life Will Not Get Easier

    Stephen Witmer uses the book of Nehemiah to puncture the lie that life will just get easier if we can get past the current challenge. He shows how this story offers help for our current seasons of life, not just the future.

    You’ve probably seen medication commercials featuring ridiculously fit and happy older people with silver hair and perfect teeth playing tennis and laughing in a carefree fashion. That’s the lie. It’s not true. In many years of pastoral ministry, I’ve seen numerous people work hard and honor God through their childrearing years and careers only to retire and face increased challenges. Friends move away. Misunderstandings with grown children occur. Spouses die. Medications multiply. Often, retirement isn’t a quiet harbor but the open ocean.

    How to Be Confident in the Resurrection: Look to Its First Witnesses

    With Easter happening next month, it’s not too early to think about the resurrection of Jesus. This is the center of the Christian faith, and one of the best arguments for the resurrection is the testimony of those early witnesses.

    How can anyone be confident that the resurrection really happened? The first followers of Jesus didn’t claim their leader rose from the dead because of gullible ignorance or blind faith. They knew dead people stay dead. Especially after they began to be persecuted, they had nothing to gain by persisting in their claim that Jesus had returned to life.

    Yet some of these women and men had encountered an event so momentous they were ready to die rather than deny they saw a once-dead man alive. These initial eyewitnesses declared what they experienced, and in some cases they died for what they declared. At least a few of their firsthand testimonies eventually found their way into the New Testament.

    dalliance

    Our poem of the week: dalliance, by Chris Wheeler. This short poem is about a morning commute and the ways we pass by one another.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2024-12-27)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    Beauty & Brokenness

    This author reflects on the beauty and brokenness in the world and writes about Christmas in this context.

    There is so much that is beautiful. And there is so much that is broken. This is the case in the particularity of our own lives as well as at a global scale. Just today I have been a recipient of beauty: good food on my plate, the wind stirring up the waves at the beach, my wife. There has been brokenness too: the trail of litter along the street from the takeaway stores, neglected gardens, ugly things I can detect in my own heart.

    What Did Mary Know? Maybe More Than You Know

    This post looks at Mary and her famous song and deduces that she knew quite a lot of the word of God.

    Poems of the Week

    Not one or two but three poems this week, all by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell: The Body in Advent, Upon the Winter Solstice & Fourth Sunday of Advent Falling on the Same Day, and Solstice Poem.

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2024-11-15)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    How Pondering Death Fuels Our Faith

    Pondering one’s own death might not be popular these days, but Jenny Marcelene argues that it strengthens our faith.

    But when I ponder the finiteness of my days, I’m drawn back to what matters most—Jesus. I’m propelled to carve out more moments to soak in God’s Word. To redirect my heart to pray on the way home from dropping kids off at school or at a stoplight. To take those extra moments to listen for the Lord’s voice before declaring my daily devotional time “done.”

    Is Every Psalm About Christ?

    What is the relationship between Jesus and the Psalms? Can Jesus pray every psalm, even the ones that involve confession of sin? Here’s a solid answer, in video format.

    Sardis

    Our poem of the week: Sardis, by Tania Runyan. It’s a poem about serving in the church nursery.

    On the WPCA Blog This Week

    This week on the blog we published an article I wrote called Reading the Bible for the Ten Thousandth Time. If you haven’t already seen it, check it out!

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here. 

    Links for the Weekend (2024-11-08)

    Posted onAuthorRyan Higginbottom

    Each Friday, I’ll post links to 3–5 resources from around the web you may want to check out.

    The Practice of Accepting Disappointment

    Tim Challies has a good word for us about disappointment and how we can use it to point ourselves to what will truly satisfy.

    Instead of being discouraged by disappointment, would it not be better to allow it to remind you of the state of this world and, better, the state of the world to come? Would it not be better to allow it to remind you that this world is not meant to completely fulfill you and not meant to satisfy your every longing? Would it not be better to let it increase your desire to be with God in that place where all disappointments will be taken away? And then to enjoy life as it is, not as you long for it to be?

    What Future Judgment Will Christians Face?

    John Piper shares some helpful thoughts about future judgment for Christians.

    So, if there is a judgment that will not condemn Christians, what other kind of judgment is there for us? That’s what’s being asked, I think. There is a dimension to the judgment that does not call into question our eternal life but determines what varieties of blessing or reward we will enjoy in the age to come.

    The Bottle Collector

    Our poem of the week: The Bottle Collector, by Liz Snell. This is a poem about a woman who gathers recyclable materials for money. Those final two lines!

    Note: Washington Presbyterian Church and the editors of this blog do not necessarily endorse all content produced by the individuals or groups referenced here.