It’s OK not to be OK

77% Weekly Newsletter

A startling discovery about 2024—this year has 53 Mondays, not the standard 52.

2019: 52 Mondays
2020: 52 Mondays
2021: 52 Mondays
2022: 52 Mondays
2023: 52 Mondays
2024: 53 Mondays
2025: 52 Mondays
2026: 52 Mondays
2027: 52 Mondays
2028: 52 Mondays

This means the ratio of Monday newsletters (41) to weeks in the year (52) is not 40/52 (77%), but 41/52 (78.8%).

I’m not changing the name of the newsletter this year (or in 2029, 2035, 2040, or 2046).

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ION2BOK

A short message this week: “It’s OK not to be OK.

At (almost) every Saturday service, I hold up a sign with this phrase.

It’s OK not to be OK.

Sometimes, as you can see in this composite image, I amend the “be,” turning it into the word “feel,” making the phrase “It’s OK not to feel OK.”

And it’s true—IT’S OK NOT TO BE OK. IT’S OK NOT TO FEEL OK.

<INSRT RB IOKNTBOK>

It’s an important message.


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I Am Not Okay Today
by Jarod K. Anderson

I am not okay today.
So, in the absence of okay,
what else can I be?

I can be gentle.
I can be unashamed.
I can turn my pain into connection.
I can be a student of stillness.
I can be awake to nature.
I can sharpen my empathy
against the stone of my discomfort.

I am not okay today,
but I am many worthy
Things.


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Let’s keep this in mind.

We don’t have to shine the brightest at all times.

We can be OK even when we are not OK.


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💙rB

A Friday Night Tradition

Religiously. Every Friday night, religiously, I do a particular tradition. I do the same ritual religiously every Friday night. I’m not misusing the word religiously to mean fanatically, as in the improper use of it in the sentence: She exercises religiously. I use the word religiously as it should be used—with more positive connotations—as in calmly, forgivingly, without rushing. So,

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Loving Enemies

Thoughts on loving our enemies ✧✧✧ Three Saturday Services in a row the group and I interacted around the topic of loving our enemies. Here are some thoughts related to our discussion. ✧✧✧ The “Love your enemies” trope is famously attributed to Jesus — in Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. > Love your enemies, do good to those

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Oh, Honey.

Fall, 2025 I’m sitting in my favorite chair in the living room. The sky is getting darker. It’s almost dusk. I check the time: 4:40 p.m. The dark starts early these days. Especially in the Pacific Northwest. I make a mental note to take my vitamin D in the morning. ✧✧✧ Most weeks I get a bit panicked that I

Read More »
77% Weekly Newsletter
77% Weekly Newsletter