Good morning... The following movie clip from the 2013 film About Time depicts the difference between plodding through a mundane day and developing the art of noticing joy along life's ordinary way. We can look down, hold back, feed tension, be annoyed, and this next twelve hours can add up to a very "tough day." Yet, there is [...]
Good morning... Getting up regularly in the wee hours of the night, I often drift to sleep when we sit down to watch a movie. This weekend we watched About Time, a 2013 film that tickled my heart, waking up my full attention. Enjoy these smiley quotes from this endearing movie. Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; [...]
Good morning... I love the Scriptural image ending yesterday's post. You've had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God's pure kindness. Then you'll grow up mature and whole in God (1 Peter 2:3, MSG). We are each nursing babes nourished intimately by God. As we daily drink deep, increasing amounts of [...]
Good morning... Over the years, my husband and I have been criticized, subtly and not-so-subtly, for not being “Christian” enough. Has similar judgement ever happened to you? People judging people feels so toxic. Can’t you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do…It is what God is doing, and he is creating something [...]
Good morning... I am not from here, this big, bustling city of Atlanta, Georgia. I was happily settled in the small Pennsylvania town of my dreams, walking to and from everything, with easy drives to extended family, loving and being loved by sister-like friends. Then, with the help of a group of diligently praying mothers and against my [...]
Happy 4th of July... At 5:30 am, I began diligently trying to discern God's morning message. At 8:00 am today, hard-found words zapped away. Frustrated. Exhausted. Angry at this unexplainable error. I took a deep breath. I closed my computer. I walked away, went on with my day. After waiting awhile, I went back to rewrite. Languish. Listen. [...]
Good morning... “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion?" asks Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30, in the Message translation. "Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I [...]
Good morning... "It’s so interesting, Sue," looking back over June one of you wrote, "when you felt the leading of the Spirit to continue to write during the summer months, I grieved for you. (See our post My Change Of Heart). I grieved the loss of freedom of time and the setting aside of responsibility for you. I [...]
Good morning... While my husband and I were talking about the cartoon from our post yesterday, he said, "It reminds me of a commonly used sermon illustration." He went on to ask, "When it comes to making a bacon and egg breakfast, what is the difference between the chicken and the pig? (.....Drum roll please.....) The chicken makes [...]
Good morning... I chuckled when I saw this cartoon at the bottom of last week's email from my friend Emily Wingfield. I chuckled, and I felt convicted. This cartoon parks in the lane of our shared hardened handicap, the handicap of our old human nature. We look around us and we want change, but we look inside ourselves [...]
