The Second Cup Show

Welcome to Season Three of The Second Cup Podcast!This season we’ll be making the case for delight—and talking about how to make the space for it—even when (especially when!) our circumstances seem inhospitable to the prospect of delighting. I was so excited to welcome my friend Monica Ritchie onto the show for the first episode, on the day of her book release, no less! to talk about spiritual practice of lament. At first glance, it might seem like lament and delight are opposites, but I’m starting to believe more every day that you simply cannot have one without the other. In this episode, Monica and I wrestle with questions like: * Why have we lost the ability to be honest with God about our anger, disappointment, suffering, or struggles? * What’s the difference between delight, joy, and happiness—and what role does lament play in all that?* How do we experience the character of God when we participate in and practice the spiritual disciplines?Some of my favorite moments from this conversation: * “Our pain demands some place for it to land. It’s either going to land on someone else, or your body, or your mental health. But the best and healthiest place for it to go is to the One who can handle it.”* “I don’t have to grind on in chronological time. I can step back and live in Kingdom time.”* “God’s love isn’t going anywhere. You can be fully human in front of Him, and He loves you still.”* “Whenever you engage with God, you experience his character. And when you experience his character, you really get to know him and see that he is good.”What was your favorite part? Let me know in the comments! The book you need to add to your TBR…Fashioned by Faith is a practical guide to the spiritual disciplines—written for those who long for a deeper relationship with God but live in a world engineered to keep them busy, distracted, and satisfied with the surface. Monica Ritchie offers not a list of requirements but an invitation: to slow down, to go deeper, and to discover that a robust, transforming faith is just as available today as it was to generations of Christ followers long before Instacart and Instagram.Inside, you'll find practices and rhythms for growing in intimacy with God, including:* Prayer: moving beyond rote recitation into honest, sustained conversation with God.* Scripture study and meditation: learning to read the Bible not just for information but for formation.* Solitude and silence: creating space to hear from God in a noise-saturated world* Worship, fasting, and Sabbath: rediscovering the rhythms that have shaped the faithful for centuries.* Service and community: the outward practices that root us in something bigger than ourselves.What sets Fashioned by Faith apart is its tone: deeply encouraging, theologically grounded, and never overwhelming. This is not a book that will add guilt to your already-full life. It is a gentle corrective to surface-level faith and the expectation of instant spiritual results, an invitation to invest slowly, deliberately, and joyfully in the relationship that matters most.Let me introduce you to my friend, Monica…I’m Monica Ritchie, a Bible Teacher & Theologian. God called me to go to seminary, so I did! Sitting in my seminary classes, I often wished more people had discussed these things. I wished someone had taught it to me or I had resources easily accessible that did. Now, that’s my passion. To bring biblical scholarship to you and to be your friend that went to seminary so you don’t have to (if you don’t want to).My heart is to bring you genuine faith & theology that you can embody alongside real life. I want to share more about who God is with you SO THAT we can all better love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength!I believe the study of theology is worship. I believe in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, the power of redemption through Him. I believe in the impact of community, words, and love. Life is good when coffee is in hand, and the sun’s warmth is on my skin. My little girls’ giggles make my heart flutter in joy. I get my best ideas while vacuuming and am in constant search for how to best store craft supplies. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesecondcup.substack.com/subscribe

Hi, I’m Deidre! I’m a poet, a theologian in training, an editor, and author of a forthcoming book on the spiritual discipline of delight. Here you’ll find semi-regular essays, poems, and podcast interviews with people who inspire me. I also offer a bi-weekly Office Hour with an Editor for paid subscribers of The Second Cup, and a Nonfiction Book Proposal Cohort to give you the tangible support you need to actually pitch and publish a book (now open to new members!).I’m glad you’re here. I hope you’ll subscribe and stick around. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote this Note:It just struck me that every 24 hours, the day dies, and every morning, God resurrects it again.Life is constantly erupting from the darkness.It seems that all I can think about these days is resurrection, the tenacity of life even in the face of inevitable death. The way that death always comes, but life always follows. God demonstrates this to us in ways we can understand. In the new rising sun. In the daffodils pushing through dirty snow after winter. In his son, rising from the dead. This conversation with Jennifer Dukes Lee only made me more obsessed with the idea that ours is the God of reinvention, of newness and possibility and surprises. Of life, against all odds. We talk about nighttime routines and the joys of breakfast and biphasic sleeping and fresh starts and soul-keeping rituals. It is a delicious and fun conversation, and I hope that now, standing on the edge of summertime, it will give you a sense that resurrection is possible and that God is doing something new, sure as the sun rises every new morning.Jennifer Dukes Lee is a bestselling author, speaker, and morning evangelist from Iowa. She is the author of several books, including Growing Slow, It’s All Under Control, and Stuff I’d Only Tell God. Follow Jennifer on social media @JenniferDukesLee, and order her newest book, How To Love Your Morning, here. NOW ACCEPTING NEW MEMBERS FOR THE NEXT NONFICTION BOOK PROPOSAL COHORT:The Nonfiction Book Proposal Cohort is an 8-week collaborative course that teaches members the ins and outs of:* Which components are required for a nonfiction book proposal, and how to make each of them strong and compelling* How to get the attention of agents and publishers, including how to write queries, reliable strategies for networking, and intentional platform-building* Creating a proposal that supports the actual book-writing process down the roadThis course uses a flipped classroom approach, which means that members will receive weekly video lessons and assignments through Google Classroom that will be completed outside of class time. During our weekly Zoom meetings, we will use the time to collaborate on each component, generate writing, ask plenty of questions, and interview special guests.At the end of the course, the goal is that all students who have completed the assignments will have their entire book proposal completed and ready to pitch for traditional publishing. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesecondcup.substack.com/subscribe

For those who are celebrating this week—Happy Thanksgiving!This conversation is all about books, and happiness, and theology, and juicy tidbits about writing & research. It felt like the perfect companion for your comings and goings. Wish I could eat a slice of pumpkin pie with you!If you’re just arriving here, stick around! Does God actually want us to be happy? That’s what we talk about in this episode. Griffin Gooch has been studying the theology of happiness for years, and is currently working on a book on the topic. And since I’m working on a book about the discipline of delight, how could I not invite him to come nerd out with me over this? In this conversation, we talk about… * the task of the theologian* why great citations are a love language* how to decide what books to read next * Griffin’s top five favorite novels (plus mine!)* what the modern Church has forgotten about happiness, and what the early Christians knew* how rituals can contribute to our overall happinessListen. Enjoy. Restack. Share with a friend! And if you’re feeling extra generous, would you leave a review of the The Second Cup Show wherever you listen? That really, really helps get the word out. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesecondcup.substack.com/subscribe

“Apathy is informative. And when we get to that point, we have to decide: Are we going to fight to bring that piece of us back that is worth reviving?”That’s what Lindsay Swoboda asks in this interview and in her book, Holding On and Letting Go: A Life in Motion, a memoir about the two decades of military life she experienced alongside her family and husband, a Marine.And what I loved about this memoir—what made it resonate so deeply, even though I have no personal frame of reference for life in the service—is that it required me to look inward, to see my own story, to ask the same question that Lindsay challenged herself throughout: When life is uncomfortable and unexpected, who will I choose to be? In this episode, we talk about: * How to greet discomfort with curiosity rather than fear* The power of rituals to keep us grounded in times of flux* Figuring out what we do have a say in, even when some of life’s circumstances are beyond our control* Finding the courage to surrender to the moment even when it is not as we thought it would be* Discovering beauty even in our most stripped-back seasonsThis conversation was heartening and also challenging—but in the best, most wonderful way. * Subscribe to Lindsay’s publication, The Eleven O’Clock Number, here on Substack: Lindsay Swoboda * Follow Lindsay on Instagram: @lindsay.swo * And most importantly, find her book here & order a copy for yourself and a copy for a friend: Holding On and Letting Go: A Life in Motion This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesecondcup.substack.com/subscribe

Make sure to leave a review after you listen for a chance to win some Poetry is for Rebels apparel! The winner of last episode’s podcast review was a dear listener by the name of Jsteele9! If that’s you—send me a message today and I’ll send YOU a new piece of Poetry is for Rebels swag. Hi, I’m Deidre, the author & host behind The Second Cup. Each week, you can expect one podcast or post around theology, poetry, and the re-enchantment of life. Come on in!Come listen in as poet and theologian Drew Jackson answers my question, “WHY POETRY?” Drew is the author of God Speaks Through Wombs and Touch the Earth, which are collections of poetic dialogue with the Gospel of Luke. On this episode, you can expect to hear:* our hot takes on rural versus city living—and the magic (and hassles) of each* Drew’s thoughtful parallels between the social contexts of Luke and our modern-day world, giving voice to those who know what life is like “on the underside of Empire”* wise words from Rilke, Miles Davis, and more * Drew performing one of his new, not-yet-published poems from his latest collection in progress (plus one of my personal requests from God Speaks Through Wombs!)* a lively dialogue on the importance of “unproductive,” undervalued things (and people!) in our society * something that inspires you to go pick up (or write!) a poetry collection Find more about Drew here: * Order God Speaks Through Wombs and Touch the Earth * Follow him on Instagram* Check out his website Know someone who would LOVE this episode? Go ahead, share it! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thesecondcup.substack.com/subscribe