Good morning... "We are like plants full of tropisms..." writes Parker Palmer on page 6 of Let Your Life Speak. My mind wonders, "What does tropism mean?" So I google the word and learn some fun facts. The noun tropism grows from the root word "to turn." Tropisms are the turning or bending movements of a living organism toward [...]
Good morning... Today, I could write about football, yesterday's rainy day off school, or our daughter's safe return from Australia with her tattered, three-wheeled suitcase. This morning, I could write about our finicky coffee pot, this week's beginning of our new class semester, or the strengthening pull of God's call upon my life. Right now, I could write about [...]
Good morning... "I must listen to my life and try to understand what it is truly about - quite apart from what I would like it to be about - or my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions," writes Parker Palmer, author of the book we will be digesting and [...]
Good morning... He shared one simple quote after yesterday's post, Primary Or Peripheral? “The first wise men gave Christ treasures from their kingdoms. Today’s wise men give Christ the treasures of their heart.” - Holley Gerth Yet, complicating the gift-giving process, our heart-treasures are wrapped in our human nature. Anger and anxiety. Stress and selfishness. Depression and defensiveness. These [...]
Good morning... "...the people who plant seeds of a movement make a critical decision: they decide to live 'divided no more,'" observes Parker Palmer in Let Your Life Speak, the book I will be teaching on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays next semester. "They decide no longer to act on the outside in a way that contradicts some truth about [...]
Good morning... "In all of creation, identity is a challenge only for humans," writes David Benner in The Gift of Being Yourself. "A tulip knows exactly what it is. It is never tempted by false ways of being. Nor does it face complicated decisions in the process of becoming. So it is with dogs, rocks, trees, stars, amoebas, electrons [...]
Good Morning... A generous friend gave me tickets to see the musical version of The Color Purple at the Fox Theatre. For years and years, the main character, Celie, languished under the silencing power of incest, emotional and physical abuse, and the debilitating pain of being labeled "ugly." Reaching her breaking point in the second half of the play, [...]
Good morning... "I liked your message," wrote my 22 year old son who is ministering to college students for a year in Australia. "The steps of discerning God's purpose/plan for our lives are challenging. I came across this study worksheet that looks into 'What is God's purpose for me?' It creates a few solid purposes that we all have [...]
Good morning... The whole room pulled off a great surprise as we celebrated a milestone birthday with our friend. Nearing the meal's end, she spoke words of raw, real thanks and owned with her eloquent voice an inspiring poem she had discovered just that day. "The second half of my life will be black to the white rind of [...]
Good morning... My forever writer-friend emailed me. "Loved your post about tweaking your final tweet. We are in constant edit mode, aren't we, as we listen harder, hear more? Reading a book of poems called A Maze Me: Poems for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye this morning and loved this one. I thought you would, too. ****** Because of [...]
