Katie Warner
10 min read ⭑
“I’ve found that I can truly be with Jesus in the most ordinary tasks—while cooking dinner, cleaning a spill, or breaking up a sibling squabble. He’s always there and waiting and for me to notice him. To do it all with him. To be animated by his love so that the mundane daily work becomes a work of grace.”
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
There's much more to food than palate and preference. How does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind the web bio?
“You’ve got a date night Friday. Your dad and I will be over to watch the kids at 5,” my mom spoke matter-of-factly through the phone while I danced a little inside. I had no idea where we would go to eat, despite many high school and college years spent restaurant-hopping with friends here in suburban Atlanta. With four kids ages 7 and under, eating out had become a mini-vacation (or a quick pit stop on a family road trip).
But that isn't the way it always was. Having dated in Denver, lived as newlyweds in the greater Los Angeles area, and transplanted to Orlando while my husband oversaw the installation of the ride he designed for one of the Disney parks, we were well-acquainted with the tastes and smells and visual ecstasy of top-rated restaurants and diverse, cultural food.
We kissed the littles and drove to our most frequently visited dinner date spot these days—a Korean BBQ joint, which, though not half as good as the Korean BBQ in Koreatown, would afford us the chance to savor a slow meal in a quiet booth with a little stovetop all to ourselves, meat sizzling with flavors we couldn’t easily replicate at home.
More than the creative food though, I relish those moments to catch up on each other's creative endeavors—two Type A people planning and dreaming about what the immediate and distant future looks like for the family and all of the projects and goals yet to unfold.
Jakayla Toney; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So, what are yours? What so-called "nonspiritual" activities do you love and help you find spiritual renewal?
My mind feels free to roam and imagine when I’m moving. I relished the Saturdays during grad school spent scaling fourteeners with classmates, blood pumping and creativity brewing. The need for movement to stir up thoughts and ideas has never really diminished. In my young adult years, that looked like studying for exams while jogging on a treadmill, sometimes clocking in 12 miles while turning binder pages full of scribbled notes. Now it looks less time-consuming as I have four children to raise and homeschool, but exercise remains both a craving and a necessity for my work.
Much of my prayer, writing, and lightbulb ideas happen while running up a hill in the neighborhood on a brisk morning, during a game of afternoon tag with my kids, or while dancing in my living room before lunchtime. One of my most recent picture books was written and edited entirely from an elliptical machine.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness. Every human too. We're just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re broken and in this thing together. So, what’s your kryptonite and how do you hide it?
I’m a perfectionist. Not a unique problem, I know, but if you’re a fellow perfectionist, you know it’s a gripping kryptonite. I put too much emphasis on what I can accomplish and not enough on what God can accomplish through me. Therese of Lisieux had three resolutions, one of which was never to get discouraged. I will spend a lifetime trying to heed that resolution in my own life.
How do I hide my kryptonite? I don’t. I ask for help! My husband knows I need to be forced to celebrate my wins, as I tend to move onto the next, higher goal before acknowledging the successes along the way. Sometimes that looks as simple as writing the actual date of a book release on my calendar and popping the cork on a bottle of sweet wine that night.
Gratitude is the biggest help. Recognizing it’s all grace and gift—the just-how-I-expected-it-to-be outcomes and the failures. After all, his power is made perfect in weakness. And I like perfect … so I better keep warming up to the weakness.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your obsession? And why should it be ours?
Homeschooling my children is my biggest time investment, most meaningful professional endeavor, and current obsession. Ten years ago, I could never have forecasted being giddy to research curriculum and curate a semester’s book list. I was on the fast-track for a doctorate and a teaching position when I met my husband and tossed the ladder of academia to the side for introducing phonics to the 5-year-old while correcting the 7-year-old’s pencil grip, keeping the 3-year-old from cutting her hair with the schoolroom scissors (again), and changing the baby’s diaper. Yet I find it more idyllic than chaotic.
My love for children’s book writing and sharing resources to raise faith-filled families came from this overflow of passion I had for living an intentional, Christ-centered life at home with my kids.
Years ago, I started having my young children practice silent time each day. I’d tell them the story of Elijah and the still, small voice.
“Did Elijah hear God in the wind?” I’d ask.
“No!” they’d yell excitedly.
“How about in the earthquake?”
“No!”
“In the fire?”
“No!”
“So how did Elijah hear God?”
Their voices hushed and their eagerness grew as they’d whisper: “In the still, small voice.”
My desire to introduce my children to silent prayer and give them the invaluable skills to break away from the noise around us for some time each day to focus on listening for God’s voice in their lives spurred the seed concept for our children’s book, Listening for God: Silence Practice for Little Ones.
I think it’s so important for young children to learn early and intentionally how to quiet themselves so they can hear God’s voice and uncover his will for their lives. At first, our silent time training only lasted a minute. Then two, three, four ... like building a muscle, but in this case, building a foundation for a fruitful prayer life and an ability to grow in relationship with Christ.
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Cashiers, CEOs, contractors, or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it's God when it happens?
Every morning I ask the Holy Spirit to send me his inspirations throughout the day. I pray that I may acknowledge them, act on them, and thank him for them.
Wow, is that a prayer that God likes to answer! I can’t believe how much this simple invocation at the beginning of my day started to change my life. I’d find myself pausing in a moment of frustration as I sensed a still, small voice prompting a more patient response. I would pick up on the subtlest of thoughts while chasing my kids around the grass or wringing out a sponge over a pile of dishes that spiraled into a children’s book concept that I knew didn’t come from me.
The more I stop to pay attention to those movements of the Spirit in sometimes unexpected moments, the more I find an overflow of creative work in my hands. It’s when I’m too busy with my own agenda and plow through those subtle nudges that I find myself in seasons where ministry seems hard and ideas seem to dry up, reminding me the only good stuff comes from him working through me.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied actions that open our hearts to the presence of God. So, spill it, which spiritual practice is workin' best for you right now?
I believe it was Teresa of Avila who said that God walks among the pots and pans. In a season of life spent mothering, teaching, and housekeeping for most of the day’s hours, I’ve found that I can truly be with Jesus in the most ordinary tasks—while cooking dinner, cleaning a spill, or breaking up a sibling squabble. He’s always there and waiting and for me to notice him.
To do it all with him. To be animated by his love so that the mundane daily work becomes a work of grace, an opportunity for growth in virtue and Christlike service, an exercise in dying to oneself and living for him and others in no matter how simple a way, and companionship with him through it all.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Our email subscribers get free ebooks featuring our favorite resources—lots of things that have truly impacted our faith lives. But you know about some really great stuff, too. What are some resources that have impacted you?
If I need a retreat in the middle of a stressful day right on my own living room sofa, I’ll crack open just about any book by Father Jacques Philippe. It’s as if they transport me to a grassy hill outside a monastery, where my cup is filled with peace, perspective, and the challenge to grow and keep moving in the spiritual life.
FORMED.org is a gem of a resource. The video programs and Bible studies are beautifully done from both a catechetical and a cinematographic perspective—something I don't take for granted in Christian programming. The library of interviews, studies, audiobooks, movies, and documentaries keeps me coming back for not just education in faith, but for entertainment, too.
Tea Time is our favorite time of the day at the Warner house. After the kids have their afternoon rest time, we gather for some herbal tea in a fancy cast iron pot, some finger foods, and some of our favorite read-aloud books and faith-based resources. They munch—and draw or color afterward—while I read to them and we all share conversation and time that’s become a treasure to every single one of us. I recommend tea time even to non-homeschoolers and to families with kids of any age. Just pick a day, time, frequency, and duration that might work and try it. I share a bunch of my favorite tea time resources and how we go about it here.
We all have things we cling to to survive (or thrive) in tough times. Name one resource you’ve found indispensable in this current season—and tell us what it's done for you.
Sing the Hours is a new-to-me podcast, though the Liturgy of the Hours, a rhythmic prayer of the Church composed mostly of the recitation of the Psalms, is not. I find it a respite in our chaotic and scary world, grounding me in the laments and promises of the Psalter. Sing the Hours in particular, with the way the prayers are sung and chanted, has brought so much peace to my soul on cool mornings spent jogging while praying along.
My dear friend, who recommended the podcast to me, has an incredible operatic singing voice and sings aloud as she follows in her copy of the divine office. So there’s something here for the songbirds and those lacking vocal skills (ahem, me) alike. The beauty of it is found in plunging yourself into sacred Scripture and knowing that you’re joining with Christians all around the world praying those same words that day.
QUESTION #8: dream
God is continually stirring new things in each of us. So, give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
I dream of many decades’ worth of children’s book writing, bringing truth, goodness, and beauty to life for young hearts through whimsical illustrations, unforgettable stories, and interactive experiences with quality literature.
But my heart and imagination are also always stirring with ideas of how to live a more intentional life of faith and mission. I hope to explore more deeply some of the strategies that my husband and I are beginning to develop in the areas of time management and goal setting that are helping us to concretely realize our dreams for our spiritual lives, family relationships, and professional aspirations. I’ve dabbled in this in the past (my Design Your Family Workshop, though still rife with useful content, could use some aesthetic updates), and I want to be able to solidify some of the techniques that are working for our family in a format that we can share with others while hitting the drawing board with new concepts for our own personal and family growth.
Before the age of little children grasping my ankles, I spoke around the country and presented workshops regularly on topics related to spiritual life. In the right season, and if God wills it, I could see that being a life-giving pursuit again, but in the meantime, scribbling a storyline for a picture book that will hopefully be so well-loved that its jacket gets lost and the pages torn is a fantasy realized.
The world doesn’t always see value where Jesus sees value.
Take Katie's decision to halt her academic career so she could raise and homeschool her children. Some may not understand her decision. Why stay home to take care of children when you can achieve a doctorate and a high-paying job?
But Katie knew that was what Jesus was calling her to do. And whatever Jesus calls us to do is always worth pursuing.
The point isn’t whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or a working parent—or even whether you’re a parent at all. What matters is seeing your life through Jesus’ eyes, seeing the value he sees, and then choosing to follow his lead.
“Follow me,” Jesus says. Will you?
Katie Warner is a speaker and bestselling children’s book author at FirstFaithTreasury.com and TANBooks.com. A full-time wife and mom, she provides simple resources for Catholic families at KatieWarner.com, where she writes insightful blogs on faith, family, and spiritually leading your home. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook!
