Good morning... When I wake from my second sleep, I do not flip on the lights. Instead, I plug in the single strand on our Christmas tree. Striking a yummy smelling match, I quietly light candles. One. Two. Three. Four. In darkness, we begin each day. The natural rising of the sun quietly sheds light. This week, I [...]
Good morning... I love reading the wise words of Howard Thurman etched in the handwriting of my friend. "You are the only you that has ever lived; your idiom is the only idiom of its kind in all existences, and if you cannot hear the sound of the genuine in you, you will all of your life spend [...]
Good morning... A dear friend regularly drops off poems in my mailbox at Northside Church. He slipped in a few important ones this week, poems I picked up following yesterday's loving funeral. These words struck me as essential for this day, for these challenging times, for this unique season of life. [...]
Good morning... After our soulful walk this week, my friend sent me two thought-provoking images. The first speaks to a common fear. Ending a year. Ending a life phase. Ending the "normal" we've come to know and to love. We often struggle with endings, don't we? The second image she shared [...]
Good morning... On our walk we did several essential things. We exercised in the fresh air. We walked our dogs around the horse farm. We caught up on the details of our challenging family dynamics. We reminded each other that Christmas will be here one short week from Monday. Coming home filled with feelings, I promptly "pigged out" [...]
Good morning... After the quirky video in yesterday's post, she wrote, "It's true that I miss God in the room all the time!" Her statement morphed into my prayer, "God, please help me not to miss You in the room today." With my eyes keenly focused on noticing, I saw God walking right through the middle of everything. [...]
Good morning... Okay, friends. So we are about one third of the way through December. Amazing how time flies. As I look back over the past ten calendar days, this is what I see. One impromptu lunch. Two holiday performances. Three happy hour gatherings. Four special worship services. Five Christmas parties. Six celebratory dinners. Tonight is the Secret [...]
Good morning... On Wednesday night in the Northside Church sanctuary, Ron Greer shared wisdom with us from his new book The Quiet House: Reflections on the Loss of a Spouse. He said, "This book is like a parable, a story with a lesson. Parable also means 'placing beside,' a story we place beside the story of our lives. [...]
Good morning... Today's block on my calendar whispers, "Last Quarter," with a tiny sketch of a moon similar to the image above. Left half dark. Right half light. Now, to the light of a lamp in the dark hours of this night, I am drawn back to two quotes we read aloud yesterday during our final Monday class [...]
Good morning... Having journeyed together through Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor, we arrive at the final poem. Might all of our learning culminate here? My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going . . . and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. [...]
