Hey there,
We’re back at it—and by sending out this newsletter, I’ve officially posted more in the last two weeks than I have in the last five years. Thanks for your patience.
↩️ LOOKING BACK
My wife and I are in the thick of parenting five kids between the ages of six months and nine years old. We do our best to bring order to the chaos, but we often get to the end of the day and say to ourselves, “What just happened?”
To increase my gratitude in the midst of the entropy, I’ve been trying to regularly record sweet moments from the day in a “Golden Moments” journal. I first heard about the idea from Kim John Payne in his book Being at Your Best When Your Kids Are at Their Worst. The idea is to record a positive interaction from each day with your kids to better remember and appreciate the joyful moments in parenting.
One of the laugh out loud moments from this week went like this:
Kid 1: In heaven, do you think we’ll have to brush our teeth?
Younger Brother: (Immediately) Don’t think so. Because you can’t open your mouth.
There’s a lot to unpack there, but I’ll leave that to you to ponder.
The Golden Moments journal doesn’t fix the chaos. But it helps me see that God’s mercies aren’t just new every morning—they’re hiding in plain sight, tucked between unbrushed heavenly teeth and mouths that (apparently) don’t open.
Whether you have kids or not, writing down one good moment from each (chaotic) day is a great practice.
⬆️ LOOKING UP
The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. Exodus 31:1–5
It occurred to me this week as I was reading through Exodus in my Bible reading plan that the first time God puts his Spirit within someone is to enable Bezalel to make art. Art!
God didn’t put his Spirit within Moses to carve out the tablets for the Ten Commandments (after Moses chucked the originals in anger), but he gave it to a guy who is barely mentioned outside of a few chapters of Exodus (and briefly in 1 and 2 Chronicles) to make something beautiful for the tabernacle.
It’s a reminder of a reality that I’ve been ruminating over lately: art and beauty really matter (to God)—they aren’t just bonuses, they’re biblical. And as for pure pragmatism? Perhaps it is more pagan than Christian.
God is the ultimate creator, and he cares about what we create. Let’s make something good, eh?
↪️ LOOKING FORWARD
Efficient At All The Wrong Things
We’ve become increasingly efficient at leading meaningless lives. — DONALD S. WHITNEY
What’s the point of being efficient at stuff that doesn’t matter? As a chronic (over) optimizer, I felt personally attacked, so I promptly wrote down this quote in a well-ordered list (which meant I could write this newsletter more efficiently 😅).
We’ve got tools for optimizing everything—but what if we’re optimizing the wrong stuff?
What’s one thing you’ve gotten better at that maybe doesn’t matter?
🔧 One Useful Thing
Nevertheless, one way I have been thoroughly stoked about optimizing is turning voice memos into more accurate, properly formatted text. I mentioned this last week, but I’ve gotten into the nuts and bolts of how it works in my latest post.
The Fastest Way to Transcribe Something from Your iPhone—For Free:
Dictating text to your iPhone is one of my favorite ways to save time and save my thoughts, especially when I’m on the go.
Whether you’re sending a message, writing an email, or drafting a blog post (like this one), it’s incredibly convenient to speak and have the words just appear on screen. Unfortunately, two problems typically occur: 1. Siri doesn’t quite nail it, so words get lost, and if you live overseas like I do, Siri might struggle with foreign languages or words; or 2. The dictation times out and just stops recording the words.
So, I found a workaround that (mostly) eliminates these two issues.
By using the built-in Voice Memos app on iOS, your phone auto-generates a transcript, and you’ll also have the recording as a backup, in case something gets missed or misunderstood.
But here’s the real magic trick: I run my transcript through ChatGPT for cleanup and formatting. It’s like having an endlessly patient, always-ready editor on standby to fix grammar, cut the “ums” and “ahs,” and even adjust the tone.
👉 Read the full post on generating transcripts via voice memo→
💭 What I’m Thinking About
- How can we model what we haven’t experienced? (e.g., If you didn’t have a good father, how can you still become a good dad?)
- Is dystopian fiction just a human response to the need to control chaos? (Yes, I just read Sunrise on the Reaping, and no, I don’t think killing kids is the best way to bring order to mayhem.)
- Why do couples seem to argue about the same things in different forms?
Wrapping Up
If this made you think—or made you think of someone—would you forward this to him or her?
If you’ve got feedback or thoughts, hit reply.
And if it’s no longer useful, feel free to unsubscribe with my full and total blessing.
Here’s to pursuing the useful life together,
