Good morning... I love that God has given me meaningful moments with my soul friend this week. After church. During a quick visit in our home. We shared brief time, hugging, expressing, processing. With her 37-year-old daughter-in-law boldly battling colon cancer, my friend said, "I believe God needs Elizabeth on this earth. I have to keep hoping for [...]
Good morning... "I'm feeling very stretched," a friend texted me yesterday. I could relate. I could totally relate. In a weird way this mid-December week reminds me of the Christmastime I was nearly nine months pregnant. Then and now I feel stretched beyond my comfortable capacity, like I want to jump out of my bursting skin! Romans 8:22-25 [...]
Good morning... Elizabeth, our friend's daughter-in-law who is battling colon cancer at age thirty-seven, writes an honest, faith-filled blog. I am grateful to regularly receive her inspiring messages. This week she wrote about the joy amid her swirling river of sorrows. ****** PostHope blog from December 3rd I had the joy and privilege to hear Sandra McCracken in [...]
Good morning... I love this Halloween photo of our nephew and his expectant wife. On the morning after Thanksgiving, many of us wake stuffed. "Today's average American lives more comfortably than the nineteenth century's wealthiest tycoons, who never beheld the sky from an airplane seat, browsed a website, heated soup in a microwave, or looked at a color [...]
Good morning... "The whole person is involved when we give thanks from our hearts," says Br. David Steindl-Rast. As I wake early this Thanksgiving morn, my heart is saturated with gratitude. I am grateful for small, simple pleasures - a furry blanket and cozy socks that hug my feet just right. I am grateful for my husband and [...]
Good morning... Our Friday group finished the fall semester last week, yet we have remained connected through a lively email string. Regularly we share words of encouragement as we pray for Elizabeth, the 37-year-old daughter-in-law of our classmate, who began her first round of chemo on Monday for advanced colon cancer. "I want to tell you all how [...]
Good morning... When I walk and talk with one dear friend, she often notices stray worms inching aimlessly across the surface of the sidewalk. Gently, consistently she picks up every lost worm she sees, placing each in the familiarity of the soil beneath the soft green grass. "I know you love caring for stray worms," I wrote her [...]
Good morning... Last month, she sent me gorgeous photos from her visit to Gibbs Gardens. Breathtaking are the blending colors, shapes, and textures. Grass and sky. Water and trees. Real and reflections. Not one. Not two. Now slowly scrolling through, I sip and share the beauty. After reading our post from yesterday, My [...]
Good morning... Like the red, hard blueberry in the plastic pail above, my day began with a bitter mistake, an error in judgement, a disrespectful choice. I did what I could to remedy the situation, but the damage had already been done. Hurt had happened. I was wrong. I felt so bad. I genuinely apologized. Disappointed in myself, [...]
Good morning... Yesterday afternoon we had our final Monday class of the fall semester. To keep our attendance high, we have learned to end classes before the week of Thanksgiving. After reading a poem about effortless unity with God, sharing the details of some very important prayer concerns, and fleshing out a Spirit-led giving opportunity, together we read [...]
