It is Spotify Wrapped season, and I thought to myself, why not make a Jenna’s Column Wrapped? This way, you can have a little collection of all the fun things I wrote this year right at your fingertips.
This year I began paywalling my posts after 1 month and posting paid subscriber content (weekly devotionals). Thank you all for your support to my Column. Whether that looks like reading and paying or just reading every once in awhile, I am so grateful for you. You helped make this subscription sustainable for me this year despite all of my crazy life changes. <3
This time last year I was working at an ice cream shop, and now I am a full-time writer and in graduate school studying spiritual formation. This is an unreal gift, one I thank God for every day! You are a part of making the magic of Jenna’s Column, don’t you forget it!!!
This essay is too long for email! Click on the title to read this in your browser, or read it on the Substack app.
I put essays/devotionals in one chunk and weekly wrapped into another. Memes and cute inspiring pics sprinkled throughout as per usual. <3
Just like last year, I am going to take a break for the last two weeks of December, which means no devotionals/essays for the next two weeks. This rest and break is so needed! As you will see below, you have plenty of pieces from me to read in the meantime. If you are somebody who has managed to read everything on this list, email me and I am happy to comp your subscription until the end of the month :)
Please be praying for me, as I am going to be spending the liminal space between Christmas and New Year’s preparing to lead a breakout session at Urbana 2025 on 12/31 with Christianity Today! I am a ball of nerves but very excited!!!!! I am also drowning in finals, so you can pray for my sanity regarding that as well.
May the Lord be with you in new ways this holiday season!!!!!!!
Everything labeled with a ☆ means it does not have a paywall! If you are new here, Weekly Wrapped is always free, and my essays are free to read for the first month. I have some posts specifically ☆’ed because I want you to get a sense of what my longer form pieces are like.
As you can tell, this year was one FULL of writing. I am excited for 2025 to be full of great writing too. I couldn’t do it without my lovely readers. Thank you, truly!!!!
If you want access to ALL of this, you can subscribe for $5 a month! You get a free devotional every week, along with an essay and a wrapped every month! A pretty good deal I’d say. That’s paying me like $0.42 per hour, which is honestly kinda diabolical. Maybe I need to rethink this…
Enjoy!!!!!!
Essays & Devotionals
01/20 | No, you don’t need that new top — fast fashion is killing the vibe
02/03 | On existing in a post-persuasion society
02/14 | For those without a valentine
02/17 | How to Make Stuff — And not care if it is good or not
03/10 | Why I am leaving behind the enneagram — on finding a deeper, fuller picture of myself as His beloved and not in mere theory
03/24 | We are Punished by Our Sins, Not for Them — on disenchanting ourselves from sin
04/07 | Social Media as a Means of Transcendence — Digital omnipresence will not cure your yearning
04/21 | Remember You Are Going to Die — On befriending death and suffering
05/05 What we lose when we are certain — Resisting ideological rigidity and embracing Jesus
05/19 | How to be creative while you are corporate — tangible tips cultivating your craft and staying sane at your 9-5
05/23 | Why spiritual rest feels so hard and how you can find it. — an invitation to do less
05/27 | How to have a (good) conversation — a simple guide for loving your neighbor through intentional conversation
06/02 | People Pleasing is not a virtue — On deconstructing our fear of man and rediscovering true humility
06/12 | A prayer for the person I hate — on bringing our ugliness to Jesus
06/16 | Living in the age of plastic — Navigating an age of artificiality as a Gen Z Christian ☆
06/20 | Phones make friendship weird — technology complicates how we relate
06/26 | The Mountain is You(r flesh)
06/30 | Here’s why you keep procrastinating your creative projects (and how to actually start them) — an introduction to resistance, the thing that keeps us from creating ☆
07/04 | Confessions of a Christian who ruminates !!!!!!
7/10 | Reading scripture that you can’t SOAP your way out of
07/14 | Look at the man in the mirror — an invitation to examine the log in your eye
07/19 | A Path is Formed by Walking
07/22 | Small things you can do to be a better friend — 21 easy ways to love your friends
07/28 | When it stops feeling like God is there — The Wall ☆
8/10 | Praying through the Sermon on the Mount — simple prayers to guide you through Jesus’ teachings <3
8/11 | Being a Christian witness on social media — I have been making Christian content on the internet for over a year. Here’s what I’ve learned so far.
08/16 | Willpower isn’t enough to conquer your disordered desires
08/24 | Spiritual disciplines should always be means to spiritual ends, never ends in themselves.
08/25 | I have access to more information than any generation has in history and I still don’t know that much about anything. — 500 years ago, 74GB of information would be what a highly educated person consumed in a lifetime, through books and stories. That’s what we consume each day.
08/28 | How was your summer? — 20 fun questions to reflect on and to share with loved ones to facilitate meaningful conversation !!!
08/31 | Bedtime
09/06 | Laid bare before Him
09/08 | How (not) to pray — An invitation to bring your whole, honest, messy self to God
09/12 | Sunday isn’t enough to sustain you ☆
9/21 | You are not The Vine
09/27 | The dreaded in-between
10/4 | God can handle that you are not over it yet
10/6 | And if I understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. — knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
10/12 | You don’t have to choose between gratitude & lament
10/18 | You can’t sanctify yourself
10/26 | God is not mad at you.
11/3 | Your life is now in Him ☆
11/12 | Being hot is not a fruit of the Spirit — Is the “Jesus Glow” spiritual or superficial?
11/16 | How to be (honest) with yourself
11/23 | “When you get there, there is no there, there.”
12/1 | God, are you there? ☆
12/6 | Forgive me God, when I give away my soul for nothing
Weekly Wrapped
If you are new here, this is basically like virtually grabbing a cup of coffee with me and I share with you about everything I am reading, watching and thinking about. Rather than avoiding anything stained by the world, here at Jenna’s Column, we seek to find glimpses of the good in all things.
Toward the end of this year, I transitioned to doing weekly wrapped once a month instead of every other week. This way, I can bring you a post less often but of higher caliber. You’re welcome!
I need to rebrand this to a monthly wrapped, but for now, enjoy a collection of my recommendations from all year long…
0/11 | Weekly Wrapped: star wars, my creative practice & wholeheartedness
01/27 | Weekly Wrapped: my laptop broke (almost), J.K. Rowling & God’s faithfulness
02/10 | Weekly Wrapped: tech bros, mary oliver & bed rotting
3/3 | Weekly Wrapped: broadway, humility as a bedrock virtue and gnocci
3/17 | Weekly Wrapped: severance, being a tourist in your city & divine love
3/31 | Weekly Wrapped: how to maintain friendships, severance finale & george harrison
4/14 | Weekly Wrapped: Nihilism, tax day & redefining ‘ugly’
4/28 | Weekly Wrapped: HAIM, ignorance and why achievement leaves us empty
5/12 | Weekly Wrapped: Thunderbolts, Pilate and Storytelling
5/26 | Weekly Wrapped: gospel music, beach reads & Tim Keller
6/9 | Weekly Wrapped: I’m starting grad school, my fav early 2000s movie & botox
7/7 | Weekly Wrapped: Elio, how to un-rot your brain & making your life intentionally more boring
7/21 | Weekly Wrapped: Superman, self-diagnosing & simple prayers
8/4 | Weekly Wrapped: interstellar, some 3-star reads & standing on business
8/18 | Weekly Wrapped: Psalm 4, new paid subscriber benefits & Doug Wilson
9/22 | Weekly Wrapped: September — The pop girlies are getting married, my father’s world & being where your feet are
10/27 | Weekly Wrapped - October — Charlie Brown, What is a good life anyway & Sacred Vows
11/26 | Weekly Wrapped - November — Wicked, Pluribus & AI-slop
If you need inspiration to start a Substack, this is your sign. You don’t have to be extreme, just consistent.
Thank you for reading Jenna’s Column!!!!! See ya next year!!!! ✮⋆˙✮⋆˙✮⋆˙
Your friend,
I love this!! Your work is so refreshing, I always always always look forward to reading 🧡
Have so loved reading all your pieces this year. Thank you for sharing your writing, it’s always a wonderful source of creative inspiration and spiritual challenge! <3