Good morning... My mind is reeling. I cannot sleep. Important needs play tug-o-war. Getting out of bed, I am drawn to an encouragement card: "The surest way to simplify your life is to focus on what matters most." I sit and ponder prayerfully, "Lord, what matters most?" What matters is something far more interior: faith expressed [...]
Good morning... As my friend and I walked and talked around the horse farm, we discussed all that feels broken, out of order, in disarray right now. Mid-sentence I looked down to see a single butterfly wing at my feet. Disconnected from the whole. Lying alone there in the dirt. I picked up the fragile...little...useless wing. The small [...]
Good morning... Yesterday's post continued to bleed into my day. Our final words became my constant prayer. "Lord, please heighten our sensitiveness to you. May we see, hear, taste, touch, and smell your magic all around us." Right away a loyal reader from Florida wrote. "Good morning Sue," she texted. "I have always stopped daily to notice something [...]
Good morning... It seems I am not the only one of us experiencing a chaotic brain. In class yesterday, one woman shared an old video about the differences between the brains of men and the brains of women. Like most good humor, enough truth is touched to make us feel seen, known, accepted where we are and growing [...]
Good morning... Luke 3:4 whispers, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” In his chaplain's devotional message this week, my husband Steve remembers with us the focus of this Advent season. May we practice the presence of the living Christ born in and through us today. ****** "Prepare the Way of the Lord" by Rev. Steve Allen - December [...]
Good morning... We discussed chapter two in our book for the semester, Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. Solitude. Creating Space for God. For me, this felt like an inviting chapter title. As always, we began our prayer time with several moments of silence to listen more keenly to the birds, our [...]
Good morning... Yesterday morning I clicked on the small lamp beside my guest bed to see my shorthaired Betty angel holding a tiny red leaf from our holy hike up the North Carolina mountain to lay to final rest the ashes of our spiritual mentor. I checked my phone to read 7:23. Instead of writing a blog post, [...]
Good morning... One of my inner circle friends is an inner circle friend of the Haley family. I have kept in prayerful texting contact with my close friend as she inches through the grief process, intimately supporting her close friend, Dr. Carla Haley. Last Saturday both women sat together in the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania pews as the legacy of [...]
Good morning... Last night I made twelve Stromboli, six to serve our son's high school friends in our busy basement and six to share with his college friends as they move into their rental home this afternoon. Straddling two life chapters, two different seasons, two separate towns - Atlanta and Athens - Stromboli chills in our refrigerator right [...]
Good morning... Strolling our dog down a very familiar street, a breeze picked up and this beautiful blossom floated down at my feet. I stopped and marveled at the exquisite design. Right before my eyes, this fragile flower had just switched from the process of living fully to the process of dying quietly. In one instant, one moment, [...]
