Time is strange. There is this worn adage about raising kids: “The days are long, but the years are short.” It’s true, although this truth doesn’t hit at first. I still vividly remember the day I brought home my oldest son. I have this mental image of this sleepy tiny guy in a blue newborn onesie, lying in the sunrays on the changing table by the window, as I was just standing there, watching him. (He was severely jaundiced, so the sun was good for him, the nurses told me.) And now, he is a 20-year-old Army Ranger. The move from that chronological point A to point B happened way too fast.

I miss the baby and adorable toddler (and even the moody teenager) that he was, even as I am grateful for the adult he has grown to be. But I’m also trying to slow down and enjoy the time with my younger two kids—10 and 7 respectively. We still call the 7yo “baby,” and she’s happy to be ceremoniously carried upstairs to bed each night. Alas, though, the “baby” is now pushing 50 lbs, so at some point, we’ll have to admit the inevitable: even the family baby is growing up.

So how do we steward time well in the face of myriad demands that fly our way from every direction? There are, after all, so many responsibilities that could simply take over our lives, if we just let them. When I was a professor, this was true about grading and class preparation. Indeed, I know people who spent hours upon hours on class prep, even for classes they had previously taught many a time. And writers can certainly do that with their craft—taking years to write, re-write, hone, massage, retool, scrap, burn, start over—before at last possibly being satisfied enough to send forth the essay or book or poem or novel for publication.

I love beautiful writing and care deeply about the craft of putting words to paper. But I also have come to terms with the reality of my life, where people—God’s image-bearers—get first claim on my time, and writing gets squeezed in on the chaotic margins, somewhere between laundry, meal-planning, and taking the “baby” to ballet. But God redeems leftovers, those meager margins. Teaspoons fill buckets. Children get fed and educated (and learn dance moves), and books somehow get written too.

Each day—each minute—is a gift. I did not create it. I can only gratefully receive.

Don’t miss the latest episode of Christians Reading Classics podcast—this conversation with about Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and why it speaks so well to Americans in the year of America’s 250th.

I’m delighted to be part of the new “Crack Book Review Team” (unofficial term my editor uses, but it does have a nice ring to it!) at The Dispatch. You can look to 1-2 micro-reviews from me each month going forward (in addition to the longer essays of the sort I’ve done before). First micro-review running in today’s Dispatch Culture roundup.

One of my regular exercises in stewarding time well involves the privilege of deciding which speaking invitations to accept. I’ve realized that I cannot accept all the invitations that I receive. I want to fulfill well each one that I do accept—and I want to serve my family well.

On that note, it was an absolute delight to spend the first part of this week visiting John Brown University. I had the privilege of giving this year’s Honors Lecture—on Christians Reading Classics. I also spoke at chapel about 2 Timothy 4:13 (send books!), and did a faculty workshop on creating a writing routine when you have very little time for writing (which is, basically, 99% of academics).

Here’s my speaking schedule for the rest of this year:

April 1: Hillsdale College. I will be speaking about Christians Reading Classics as I deliver the inaugural annual lecture on “Christianity and the Classical Tradition.” Book signing to follow!

April 30: I’m very excited to teach a session about the magnificent Dorothy L. Sayers as part of TGC Online Cohort on Cultural Apologists. Interested? Learn more here (Registration currently open, and closes on March 25, so you can still join us!)

May 30: I’ll be reading something brief on motherhood alongside two other local writers as part of Ashland Public Library’s Local Author Speaker Series, a collaboration of the Ashland MFA with the Library! And check out the other two events in the series, coming in March and April respectively:

Local Author Speaker Series - John Byron | Ashland Public Library

Local Author Speaker Series - Dr. Daniel K. Williams | Ashland Public Library

September 23-24: Wheaton College. Dan and I will both be speaking, so this is your chance to hear us both talk about recent books.

September 30: Northwestern University, St. Paul, MN. I’ll be doing an afternoon workshop for local classical school teachers, then an evening lecture on Christians Reading Classics.

October 1: Conference on Faith and History. I’m delighted to be one of the plenary speakers, and will be speaking about my book Mothers, Children, and the Body Politic. More details here—and if you’re a Christian historian, hope to see you there!

If we’ve interacted online (and even if we haven’t), and you are in attendance at one of these events, please be sure to introduce yourself! It will be a delight to meet you in person!

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