Good morning... Writing my notes of encouragement for the "treasure boxes" being filled for our two spiritual mentors, I hit a computer glitch. Then another. And another. The little, colorful spinning wheel just kept on spinning. I was forced to wait. Time was running out on the deadline. How would this important task get done? I had to [...]
Good morning... We sat in the palpable presence of Jesus discussing our Martha-like tendencies. We marveled at how quickly, unexpectedly, without warning, our controlling human nature can rear her biting head. By the end of our conversation, we sensed our mad Martha uncovering an important question: "Why do I invite Jesus into my home, then disconnect from my [...]
Good morning... "I resent all of this," she softly says, as stressors in her life pile higher and heavier. "As my resentment builds, I get snippy. Impatient. Despairing. The Martha-in-me crawls out," she explains, referring to the upset, demanding, worry-wart Martha we meet in Luke 10:38-42. "I do not want her to be in there, this horrible person." Our [...]
Good morning... The word "sabbath" in Hebrew means rest, cessation, to cease from labor. We are told in Genesis 2:2-3 (AMP) And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested (ceased) on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it [as [...]
Good morning... Another Mary has come into my life this holiday season. A subscriber wrote: "Sue, your readers may enjoy 'Making the House Ready for the Lord' by Mary Oliver. It's a favorite of my poetry group at St. Anne's Terrace." So I took his advice and I checked out this poem, written in 2006, by this new-to-me Mary, [...]
Good morning... "I love reading your daily blog messages," one subscriber writes. "So many of them resonate with how I am thinking and feeling." "As both you and your readers commented, so many of our hurt feelings are due to how we interpret comments of others," she observes. "Our interpretations highlight our insecurities and expose our false sources [...]
Good morning... December hosts a plethora of pop-up possibilities. On top of our regular commitments, we add gift buying, Christmas cards, and holiday visits. We pile on parties, special foods, and annual traditions. We struggle with people-pleasing, perfectionist tendencies, and performing our priorities with the greatest of ease. But December is not easy, December can be hard. Yet [...]
Good morning... My feelings were hurt. After I had prayed diligently for the months leading up to our second "Awake To Wellness Retreat," after I had left my family behind to travel from Atlanta to Orlando, after we had passionately provided a day of music and teaching, poems and prayers, videos and stories about the life of Christian [...]
Good morning... My inbox was inundated after yesterday's post, I Was Just Trying To Help. Often we are blind to the ways our "helping" hurts. I will share three email exchanges fleshing out our tendency to addictively "help" without God's consent. Why do we think we are a better savior than our Savior? ****** Martha's comment: "Oh Sue what [...]
Good morning... I diligently discerned yesterday's morning message, learning from a new-to-me-word: nosegay. I scheduled the blog post to come to you at 3:00 am, and then I drove through rainy traffic, arriving late to my 9:30 meeting. As our group did a check-in, sharing what was on our hearts as we entered the room, the first thing [...]
