Good morning... "We are coming off a whirlwind graduation weekend at UNC," texted a longtime friend earlier this week. "Bryan Stevenson was the keynote speaker, who was EXCELLENT! Given your recent experience with the museum in Montgomery, Alabama which he helped to start, I wanted to forward you his quote." Your hope is your superpower. Believe things you [...]
Good morning... "Ah! So perfect! This one is for me!" she emailed me after yesterday's post, The Back Roads Of Your Self. "Up at 4:00 am because of jet lag after a wonderful month with my husband wandering the gorgeous back roads of France. Feeling so free then and now feeling a little overwhelmed by the highway life. [...]
Good morning... For the first time, I notice something that has likely been there all along. At the end of my friend's email, below her name, title, and business, rests a short quote by Mary Mrozowski. "I am where I need to be. Everything around me includes and hides the sacred." How freeing it would be to live [...]
Good morning... There is enough chaotic doom and gloom to fill every ounce of every day, but my attention is not drawn there. My focus deepens from the surface of things to form a quiet prayer, "LORD, what is my work to do in this wounding world?" A poem by Mary Oliver, read aloud to me by a [...]
Good morning... The chaplain team writes a devotional message for The Lovett School community each week. This past Monday, my husband Steve wrote a fun piece about the wisdom gleaned from a shepherd named John. ****** Chaplain's Message for May 1st, 2023 by Rev. Steve Allen Acts 2:42-47 • Psalm 23 • 1 Peter 2:19-25 • John 10:1-10 [...]
Good morning... Our Julie's Dream prayer team met by Zoom yesterday morning to pray over the lives of the inner city kids we take on trips to explore God's expansive creation. We prayed for the family of kids who recently witnessed their mother murdered by her boyfriend. We prayed for the talented trip leader from a neighboring non-profit [...]
Good morning... After experiencing the Legacy Museum and The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, I am haunted by the inhumanity, the ugly pain inflicted on millions and millions of black skinned people over the centuries, and the way my privileged, comfortable life has really, really bloody roots. I feel compelled to deal with my [...]
Good morning... Sometimes there is a "before," and then there's an "after." Developmentally, our magical thinking evaporates around at around age ten, replaced by concrete perception and object permanency. There is no recovering what is lost. Good-bye peek-a-boo, magic elves doing mischief in the middle of the night, Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, and make-believe worlds. We can [...]
Good morning... Over the past twenty-four hours, I have reminded myself repeatedly, "Be a reservoir." When I was tempted to talk too much . . . then decided to listen instead, "Be a reservoir." When I crafted a long confusing text . . . before deleting it, "Be a reservoir." When I felt sucked into the middle of [...]
Good morning... We meet monthly as a small group of spiritual directors, learning to listen keenly for the movement of God. Practicing a new-to-me way of focusing our attention, yesterday I said, "I would need to repeat this way of listening, regularly, by myself, processing my own experiences and gradually building up my inner resources, before I would [...]
