Good morning... "It’s the unknown which God's enemy uses to create fear, worry, anxiety," she quietly shared. Once we accept life as it is, uncertainty and all, we can face God's opponent saying with confidence, "You meant to hurt me, but God turned your evil into good to save the lives of many people, which is being done" [...]
Good morning... I woke to the company of an odd phrase. "Before Your word is on my lips." It sounded a bit biblical to me, so I typed the seven words into the subject line of Biblegateway.com. Nothing popped up. No references. No inspiration. I hit a dead end. So, I reduced the seven words down to three. [...]
Good morning... Two quotes of divine wisdom creatively collided and fell into me yesterday. “There's a lovely Hasidic story," writes author Anne Lamott, "of a rabbi who always told his people that if they studied the Torah, it would put Scripture on their hearts. One of them asked, 'Why on our hearts, and not in them?' The rabbi [...]
Good morning... As I touch on the "Past Blog Posts" button below to review the wisdom woven around us this week, "nest" is the word filling my mind. As a noun, a "nest" is a pocketlike, circular structure of twigs, grass, and mud formed by a bird, often high in a tree, providing a protected place in which [...]
Good morning... "Good evening, my dear friend Sue," he wrote after our recent posts about the turbulent turmoil and torment swirling around and within us. "I hope you are fully recovered after your illness earlier in the week. I read with interest your messages these past two days. You are right. We live in challenging times. But our loving [...]
Good morning... Turmoil stirs us from sleep. Deep hunger and homelessness litter our streets. Senseless violence and the threat of war push us to the brink. Fires of all kinds blaze around our globe, and we are witnessing the third-ever impeachment of a President in the history of our deeply divided United States. This is just a fraction [...]
Good morning... “How can we picture God’s kingdom?" asks Mark 4:30-32 in the Message translation. "What kind of story can we use?" we wonder within. "It’s like a pine nut," Mark says. "When it lands on the ground it is quite small as seeds go, yet once it is planted it grows into a huge pine tree with [...]
Good morning... I unzip my purse and unfold the church bulletin. I re-read from my Sunday morning scribblings of sermon notes. "When is the best time to plant a tree?" asked the pastor. After being greeted with silence he gave us the answer. "Twenty years ago. Twenty years ago is the best time to plant a tree." "When [...]
Good morning... The peace of God, which surpasses human understanding, is ours to enjoy, moment by moment. As I review our posts from this week, I am drawn to the Bible verses tenderly taking our hand and lovingly leading us along. Monday: You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into [...]
Good morning... "One day in the country is worth a month in the city," whispers the rustic plaque hanging on the farm house wall. Why might this be? When I think of "country," natural words cascade from my mind to water my heart. Unplug. Fresh air. Big sky. Down-to-earth. A slower pace in wide open space. Within me [...]
