Good morning... "Hi Sue," she wrote this week. "Wanted to let you know that your recent post and poem has helped a friend of mine in Jacksonville. He lost both his brother-in-law and nephew in two separate drug overdoses in a three week period. So much sadness — thanks for all you do for so many." She proceeded [...]
Good morning... "Sue, my mom passed away at 2:36 today peacefully and quickly," our dear friend Corinne Adams texted me at 11:08 pm on Saturday, June 8th. "It was time to rest. I can't wait to tell you about all the angels who showed up spontaneously...former caregivers, who were like family...they felt a call to come, not knowing...it [...]
Good morning... "Sad songs, they say so much," sings a lyric many of us know. Yet "sad" is relative and "saying so much" is important for every one of us. The music at yesterday's memorial service honoring J Schroeder, beloved 61-year-old husband and dad, son, brother, friend, was moving and meaningful. The following song invited us to quietly [...]
Good morning... Plan A seemed awesome. I was excited, grateful, anticipating wonderful. When Plan A gave way to Plan B, I was mildly disappointed but adapted pretty quickly. As Plan B crumbled into Plan C, the wind of joy left my sails, and I pep-talked myself into a new possibility. I lost it when Plan C unraveled into [...]
Good morning... From worm to harrow, from insect to iron, from the Bible verse that concluded yesterday's post on the evolution of our God-given-self, I did not know the meaning of the noun harrow. Harrow, as a verb, is more familiar to me. To actively harrow means to rob, ruin, ravage. To strip, spoil, severe. To destroy, devastate, demolish. When [...]
Good morning... As the plastic, pastel eggs are tucked away for next year and the last chocolate Easter bunnies are now at ninety percent off, I am brought back to the spring wisdom of When The Heart Waits. "There is a line from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins that speaks to me: 'Let him easter in us, be [...]
Good morning... In yesterday's post I was grateful to sense the fruits of God's Spirit growing early on my Easter Sunday branch, as I heeded Betty Skinner's wisdom: "The big 'I' must die." Twenty-four hours later, I realized my big "I" had not died, instead my big "I" was crouching inside, keeping score. Let me explain. Two minutes [...]
Good morning... I noticed Easter power rising in me twelve hours early. Let me explain just what I mean. At noon on Saturday, I sat on our couch folding load after load of warm, clean laundry. I had enjoyed a conversation with each of our two college-aged daughters home for the holiday weekend and our seventeen-year-old son who [...]
Good morning... This sacred Saturday, we are called to remember, piecing together, mentally re-membering the painstaking process that crucified our Lord. Here is a song to help you remember, piecing together, re-membering in your mind God's ultimate gift of sacrificial love. Let's take ourselves back with a touching rendition of Were you there? Late in the afternoon a wealthy man [...]
Good morning... As a church staff, we sprinkled ourselves into the pews of our wide-open sanctuary to commemorate Maundy-Thursday together. Music. Prayers. Scriptures. Sermon. Communion. We experienced the memory of Jesus' final moments wrapped in the flesh of a man. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from [...]
