Good morning... Quietly reading this poem aloud, I slowly mulled over every word. ***** Lead Me out of My Doubts and Fears by Ted Loder Eternal God, lead me now out of the familiar setting of my doubts and fears, beyond my pride and my need to be secure, into a strange and graceful ease with my true [...]
Good morning... "I read this article and found it really helpful," she texted, "not just for how to handle people on the front lines of the Covid-19 crisis but for any one in danger or in grief. The final message at the end of the article reminded me of something lovely you would say. I don't know if [...]
Good morning... As I cleaned out my home office over the weekend, I came across a year-long calendar of quotes from various writers, two inches thick, a bit larger than a 3x5 card. The spiral bound gift, given a long while back, rested open to these words from July 4th. "In the black night, I listened to His [...]
Good morning... "I think we need to cancel the March women's conference," speaker Dr. Cathy Snapp said over the phone. What? What are you talking about? My mind silently reeled. Cancel the "Awake To Wholeness Women's Retreat" we have been planning for over a year? But so many people have invested so many hours. How can we cancel? As [...]
Good morning... "We are good!" she replied by email. "Definitely have tough days, but who doesn’t?" "I had a mommy meltdown last week," I stepped through her open door of honesty. "I was tired of being primary shopper AND chef (even with four young adults and a kind husband to help). The anxiety of others had snowballed to [...]
Good morning... The following devotional message, written by my husband, arrived in my inbox on the same morning nine of us women from our Monday Bible study group packed two hundred and fifty Super Pack Boxes at the Action Ministries warehouse. Each box was filled with non-perishable goods to help one family of four to supplement their food [...]
Good morning... A friend sent me beautiful words shared by her church on Sunday. Instead of the traditional "Passing the Peace" portion of worship, during this season of social distancing her church family is developing a new habit called "Passing Our Prayers." ****** Today's prayer comes from Elizabeth Shows Caffey: Now I say to you in conclusion, life [...]
Good morning... To end our Zoom gathering, he gently read to us a poem, a poem I had never met. ****** The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may [...]
Good morning... Surprisingly, one of my supervisor's survey questions pierced a sensitive nerve, sort of like when the dentist finds a cavity and pain shoots everywhere. "When it comes to workload at Northside, how heavy is the burden or light is the load?" That was the question striking my nesting nerve. We were asked to respond on a scale [...]
Good morning... A friend ended her email with a quote from Pascal: "In difficult times, always keep something beautiful in your heart." What "something beautiful" - a hope, a thought, a feeling, a memory - rests in the home of your heart right now? Sense it. Savor it. Slip it into your soul. As you focus fully on this "beautiful [...]
