Good morning... On Friday morning, I received the above text. A beloved member of our church family went to heaven last week. Kind. Generous. Incredibly beautiful, inside and out. This photo on my phone captures well the spirited Junie Parker I will always remember. Her obituary begins: "Natalae Waters 'Junie' Parker died peacefully in her home on September [...]
Good morning... After reading yesterday's blog post, My Dad's Handwritten Note, a church friend from a while back wrote from miles away, sharing a story about her own father. Now up in the middle of the night the nearly full moon beckons me to the couch. "Sit. Stay put. Savor her tender, touching words." "Northside will always be [...]
Good morning... Oh, how I remember these dorm move-in days with all four of our kids. It has been pretty amazing to receive texts and photos of Audrey DeShelter's move-in experience at Notre Dame. Yesterday, her mom Jennifer posted about Audrey's transition on Facebook. So much beauty amid so much challenge. [...]
Good morning... Waking early, I took time to process myself by writing yesterday's blog, Steve Is In Africa. In retrospect, I realize now that the post expressed the tip top of my emotions. Hope. Connection. Optimism. I had not heard the voice of my husband Steve for nearly a week as he led his first Lovett Expeditions trip [...]
Good morning... The last time my husband Steve and I were physically together on a mountainside was in Banff, Canada. We explored the Canadian Rockies with our adult kids in June. This week Steve and I have been spiritually together as I have prayed constantly for him and the group he is helping to lead up Mt. Kilimanjaro [...]
Good morning... For years and years and years, I have taught Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for years and years and years. Then in May, my friend said, "Why don't you consolidate your classes so you'll have more time to go to Ohio to visit with your parents?" I checked with the regulars on [...]
Good morning... On the same morning my 86 year old mom left the skilled nursing care center to return home to the villa with my dad in Ohio, a dear, dear friend settled her own aging mom into her new home, a memory care facility in Huntsville, Alabama. That same evening, another loyal friend rested beside her mom [...]
Good morning... "Hi Sue," she wrote after yesterday's blog post. "Up early today and feeling connected to you and your thoughts. Your messages always draw me back toward a centering orbit. Thank you for the beacon, the reminder - that every day we live, breathe, and walk through our day - is the most precious blessing." Below her [...]
Good morning... After re-reading yesterday's post, This Unique Summer, I embodied a fresh prayer on my morning walk. "LORD, please help me to be grateful for each creature greeting me on my path, and help me to recognise an angel at every corner." Soon, I happened upon this stack of old tires. Piled up. Strewn about. Disheveled, in [...]
Good morning... As I came upon this grasshopper, motionless on the rocky road, I thought of one of the most sobering segments in Scripture. Powerful and poetic, Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 describes in great detail our natural aging process. Here we visit the verses in the VOICE translation. And so we come to the end of this musing over life. [...]
