Stephanie Morrill: On Reinventing Yourself

by Stephanie Morrill

Nothing sends McKenna, my four year old, into a panic quite like the sight of the ball rolling down the driveway.

Even if we’re practically still in the garage…

Even if I’m walking alongside the ball as it rolls…

Even if I’m reassuring her, “I’ve got it, McKenna. Stop worrying,” the ball rolling toward the street – however far away it might be – instantly sends her into, “The ball! The ball’s gonna go in the street! It’ll go down the drain! It’ll get squished!”

I’ve talked to her about it time and time again. “Honey, you don’t have to worry about the ball rolling into the street, okay? I’ll stop it before it gets there.”

One time over the summer when I said this she gave a sigh and said, “I know, Mom. But I see the ball rolling and I get so worried.”

She panics. And don’t I do the same?

How many times have I read in the Bible that God will always be with me? That He never takes His eyes off me? That I need not worry about my needs being met, because look how well he’s provided for all of nature, and don’t I mean much more to Him than the flowers of the field?… continue reading

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by Stephanie Morrill

I’ve always wanted to be one of those people who read smart-people books. Like biographies about Jefferson or non-fiction about obscure battles. My parents are like that, as is my husband. Sometimes I try. Which is why I own Titan (a biography about Rockefeller) and Seeing Mary Plainly (a biography about Mary McCarthy, author of The Group) but have read neither.

I’ve grown semi-comfortable with the fact that I’m a fiction girl. When I read, I want it to be stories. But sometimes a non-story book comes along that knocks me out in a way no novel ever could. Two books are doing that to me right now.

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is a year long, daily devotional that is rooted in scripture, but is written as if God is talking to you. (“I want you to rest in my presence…”) The text usually takes me about 30 or 45 seconds to read. Below are the scripture verses Ms. Young pulled the content from, so you could make a nice morning study out of this if you wanted. Right now I read it aloud during breakfast, so my 4 and 2 year old children can hear too, and we talk about it afterward.… continue reading

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by Stephanie Morrill

Do you have an attitude you need to reinvent?

The first attitude of mine I ever reinvented was my attitude toward cooking. My mother is an amazing cook and my entire young life she tried to get me interested in kitchen type things, but it never really clicked.

When I lived on my own, I ate a lot of bacon and eggs and bagged salads. I had a few recipes of Mom’s, but I didn’t own a single cookbook. I don’t think my mom (or my fiance) had much hope for me turning into much of a home chef.

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This is what friendship looks like in magazines, doesn’t it? Or on Clean&Clear commercials, anyway:

This is a snapshot of me and my friend, Rachel. I’m the one with my head thrown back, laughing like a hyena at who knows what. There was a middle-aged guy in a G-string sunning himself not far from where we were, (Welcome to Daytona Beach) so maybe Rach had just pointed him out to me.

But I digress.

As a freshman in high school, my Uncle (who was a Pastor at the time) asked me to contribute to some magazine distributed to Southern Baptist teenagers. My topic was, “How should I choose friends?” I had about 200 words to respond.

This should be easy, I thought. I’ve always been a girl who fell in with the “good crowd.” And even on the occasion that I hung out with a few edgier friends, I somehow became the token good girl in the group. Like a mascot or something.

So I sat down to write my short article. Since it was for a religious publication, I figured I should make it Biblically based. I started off talking about how we should choose friends the way Jesus chose disciples.… continue reading

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by Stephanie Morrill

I used to be really awesome at setting aside time in the morning to study my Bible. I would kiss my husband goodbye as he left for work, then settle myself at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and my Bible. I would often hang out there for 45 minutes or an hour before showering and getting on with my day.

Sometimes I heard other women in my Bible study talk about how good it was for them to be in a group, because otherwise they tended to let personal study slip. I had no idea what they were talking about. What was so hard about scheduling Bible study? I would think.

And then McKenna came along.

Sweet, wonderful, unpredictable McKenna. And 2 1/2 years later, we had Connor.

And before I knew it, I woke up one day last November and realized I have hardly touched my Bible for four years.

Sure, I would take it to church sometimes. And I had participated in a couple “Christian living” type classes that I need my Bible for. But there was no continuity, no routine, and, frankly, I didn’t even feel a real desire to read my Bible.… continue reading

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Baby Steps

By Stephanie Morrill

 What causes a sane person to get out of bed early on a Saturday morning and go run in the drizzly cold?

This was the thought running through my head as my husband’s alarm went off at 5:45 a.m. On a Saturday. The one day a week that we have a blip of a chance of sleeping in. (This is assuming our 4-year old and 18-month old decide to sleep past 7.)

Ben stretching after a long morning run. This is not what I would look like after running 15 miles.

The other thought going on was, “How did I wind up married to a runner?” Ben has always been good about exercising, but it’s only been in the last year or so that he started running on his lunch break at work, just to stay in shape.

One day he came home and said, “I ran a 5k today during lunch today,” which really wowed me. I asked if he had any interest in doing races, but he said he didn’t, that it was just good exercise. Then he crept up to 5 miles over his lunch hour. Then 7. After a while, he got to know some of the other people at his company who ran over lunch.… continue reading

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