Good morning... God gives me space to connect the day's dots. I sit on our back porch eating chicken noodle soup, breathing in the breezy grey, admiring the dance of bushy green. Early I woke to a short and sweet email. "GRACE - another acronym I learned years ago: God's Riches At Christ's Expense." A few hours later, I [...]
Good morning... "Sue - love your post this morning," she texted me yesterday at 6:29 am after reading We Grow G.R.A.C.E. "I woke up having a terrible night sleep because I felt feelings of envy, jealousy, entitlement, confusion, and rejection about a situation in my life. And all this felt out of the blue after having a great, full, [...]
Good morning... At our final Friday gathering of the semester, we shared the memorable words, quotes, and insights we loved best from Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak. In the course of our life-giving conversation, one of the women told us of an acronym her minister had recently shared. "Some asked me to repeat," she emailed later, "so here it [...]
Good morning... Over the phone a friend shared with me a quote she had just happened upon. "When I wake up in the morning," EB White once said, "I can't decide whether to enjoy the world or improve the world, that makes it difficult to plan the day." My friend went on to think out loud. "I can easily [...]
Good morning... Always looking for the next book to teach, I mostly chose one book because it was short and simple, it had intriguing quotes and soulful pictures, and it was on the sale table at a local, eclectic store. I fell in love with the first words of the introduction: “Hygge (pronounced “hoo-gah”) is a quality of presence [...]
Good morning... “Stillness is not about focussing on nothingness; it’s about creating a clearing. It’s opening up an emotionally clutter-free space and allowing ourselves to feel and think and dream and question,” writes author Brene Brown on page 108 of The Gifts of Imperfection. Stillness. Create a clearing. Open up emotionally. Protect clutter-free inner space. Allow feeling, thinking, dreaming, [...]
Good morning... I am deeply grateful pianist Dana Cunningham sent us another one of the poems she read aloud to us at our Awake To Wellness Women’s Retreat. In the nest of right now, create a clutter-free inner space for William’s words to resonate in your soul. ****** You Reading This, Be Ready by William Stafford You Reading This, [...]
Good morning... Extremely grateful, I thanked store owner, Lisa, at The Front Porch of Vining for sharing with us a combination of donated and purchased items from her new fresh market for our recent retreat. Two large flower arrangements with an adorable one thrown in. Local pies and yummy pecans. Gift basket and a "Happy Spring" display. Chocolates and cheese [...]
Good morning... As I sit on my back porch at this time of the year, I see the color of new growth bursting on bare branches. Now and forever, I will call this light, bright color “Julie Green.” One year ago today, 42-year-old Julie Harlan died, a loving wife and mother, a loyal daughter and sister, a long-time friend [...]
Good morning... I absolutely love that the brightness of tonight's full moon sky coincides with the seal-off mystery of the dank, dark tomb. For Jesus' dead body wrapped in burial attire, for you and for me wrapped in our own dark cocoons, God lights our hope. We each whisper in awed wonder: "...even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To [...]
