Good morning... "I am going to read a Mary Oliver poem for Thanksgiving as part of our family's blessing," she texted. "Will you take a picture of the poem you choose and share it with me?" I replied. "I will be deeply with you in Spirit." Thursday at 8:41 am, I received her inviting selection. [...]
Good morning... "I'll bring the flowers," said our new daughter-in-law, as we planned Thanksgiving details. How fabulous! Chandler has begun her new business, Earl Grey Floral, in Athens, Georgia. With a wedding reception in Savannah this weekend, she made us a gorgeous centerpiece with a few of the extra flowers. I can adapt to that! Adapt. This was [...]
Good morning... "What do joy and grief have in common?" asks poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. "...The ability to evoke feeling that pushes us and opens us and helps us to be compassionate and helps us fall in love." In the 10-minute video below, released yesterday for this holiday season, Rosemerry reads poems that span grief and joy from [...]
Good morning... "It saddens me to see such division in our church, but God will help us figure that out," she wrote after yesterday's post. "I came across this poem and I think it speaks for people as well as for the church. My depression is still waxing and waining like the moon, so I know it speaks [...]
Good morning... We face an unknown future, dependent on the grace of God. What is grace exactly, Lord? a. Divine favor bestowed freely on people. b. The state of having received unearned favor. c. A supernatural power granted unconditionally by God. God is full of grace. From him we have all received grace in place of the grace [...]
Good morning... Beneath this sign posted on a nearby tree, I look down to see a worm struggling wildly on the sidewalk. Flailing. Squirming. Searching for softness. I think to myself, "This is one thing I can do," and I pick up the desperate creature and lay her on a moist patch of grass. In times of chaotic [...]
Good morning... Up in the middle of the night, I snap a photo of the sign that greeted me yesterday as I settled into my parents' villa at their senior living community in Olmsted Township, Ohio. This sign makes me smile. A simple, handcrafted warm welcome. Susie, my nickname growing up. My mother's always beautiful handwriting. The kind [...]
Good morning... Thinking, "I can't process everything," I close my eyes to cocoon in silent dark. I breathe. Breathe deep. Breathe more. Quietly my mind recalls the words of a friend. "The intense hatred of human beings is heartbreaking and hard. Why is everything coming undone?" In sensing without my eyes, I re-realize, the ways of the world [...]
Good morning... A quiet poem greeted me yesterday, a poem named Praying by Mary Oliver. ****** It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate, this isn't a contest but [...]
Good morning... Waking in the middle of this night, the moon is irresistible. I am drawn outside to capture the 3:00 am brightness casting a shadow on our deck. Light quietly befriends life's darkness. It always has. It always will. This week Kate Bowler shared the video below, reminding us day and night: Life is so beautiful. Life [...]
