with love to karen & jeanette.
You are my first and I'm humbled, grateful, honored, blessed, and scared.
Dear Karen & Jeanette,
Thank you.
You are my first paid subscribers here on Substack and I couldn’t be more humbled and blessed by you. I want to tell you, too, that I’m also a little scared.
As a writer, I’ve never done well with subscription-based writing. I see your lovely and generous payments and worry that I won’t produce enough. I worry that you’ll be disappointed. That I’ll go silent and you’ll regret signing up. That my heart, mind, body, and whole entire life will conspire against my words and guffaw at me as I sweat over a blank page.
One more thing. In the years since I left Patreon, my last paid subscription platform, I became a mother. My mind doesn’t work like it used to. My time and energy are mostly given to my toddler while I wail heavenward for wisdom & strength. But here you are, with your kind, generous presence and your belief in me as a writer. Thank you! So much! This is a tough season for my family and me, but I still want to cultivate discipline around crafting words and this is where (and how) I hope to do so. Your support encourages me to take little writerly baby steps and just keep going, regardless of how imperfect I (and my paragraphs) might be.
Wiser Lovers is…
I created this online journal to write about loving (and living) well. My words and work, both here and everywhere, are designed to encourage you to live a deeper, wiser life guided by Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Sometimes I share personal thoughts on grace, home tending, books and art, relationships, creativity, and more—while other times I share wisdom I've gathered from artists & writers I trust.
I want to inspire you as I, myself, aspire to be a woman who loves deeply and well, guided and taught by the wisdom of God. This means loving God first and most. It means learning to love what he loves—especially the lives we have and the people who dwell in them. It means learning also what not to love. It means learning how to live and love a life that is ordered rightly, shaped and informed by what is truthful, right, and good.
I fail at this everyday. And in the failing, I am learning how to embody the truth that God’s grace is enough, even for my wretchedness.
Going forward, I plan to offer for you, my sweet paying members of Wiser Lovers, more personal glimpses that I don’t necessarily want to make immediately public—photos and other thoughts & happenings. Like a private blog from the old days of online journaling. I miss that. I don’t know how prolific I’ll be, or how consistent, because right now I can’t even consistently keep up with dishes or laundry or watering my plants. So please feel free to come and go as you need, with peace and blessing.
If you have any questions or suggestions, or something you’d especially like to see or read here, please let me know! You can reply to this message or leave a comment; I’d love to hear from you.
With vulnerable joy,
Hillary
I'm here. Whenever you write, I know it's worth the wait. Truly, I feel God's hand in your words... and it ministers to me. Thank you for being faithful to the calling of the Lord. I love you.
Jeanette