Good morning... Writing yesterday's blog post, Grass Isn't Always Greener, I was tucked in between two life-giving emails. Before I began writing around 4:30 am, I read the following encouragement from my eighty-seven year old friend. Sue, Thank you for including me in your blog, which cheered me up, once again in the story of our Lord's birth. [...]
Good morning... "The second week of our Gift from the Sea study brings to my mind a poem," she writes. "Slow Me Down, Lord" has graced my home and heart for many years and is a constant source of comfort and peace with the busyness of life." ****** SLOW ME DOWN, LORD (by Wilfred Arlan Peterson) Slow [...]
Good morning... I followed the suggestion given in yesterday's blog post, Stand Actively Silent. "Active silence," Dr. James Johnson explained, "is stepping to the back of the line and creating space and opportunity for others to speak, especially those who don’t look like me or experience life as I do – those voices that I don’t normally hear." In [...]
Good morning... I am prayerfully considering which book to teach in our living room next fall, in small groups, sitting six feet apart. With a short stack of possibilities, I read through piles of pages. At the right moment, I trust the Holy Spirit to nudge, "Sue, this is the one I have chosen." "When the sun goes [...]
Good morning... Today is Senior Sunday at our church, an annual celebration of the high school seniors raised by our church family. Every year, I love to flip through the traditional glossy trifold bulletin announcing the name, the high school, and the college of choice for each fresh graduating face. This unusual year, I noticed three changes right [...]
Good morning... I used to think I needed older, wiser mentors watering my seeds of faith, people pouring into me, helping me to grow. At the same time, I thought I was designed to be an older, wiser mentor, pouring into the lives of others, helping them to grow. Me being poured into so I could pour out. [...]
Good morning... "On this morning, if I can leave anything with you, let me urge you to be sure that you have a strong boat of faith," said Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. on March 3rd, 1968 at Ebenezer Baptist Church here in Atlanta, Georgia. "The winds are going to blow. The storms of disappointment are coming. The [...]
Good morning... In yesterday's post, A Pleasant Surprise, I shared with you the introduction to our 2019 Advent devotional, With God Weather Life. During this Advent season, we as a community will celebrate together the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and savor each day in between, starting today. In case you have not yet signed up to [...]
Good morning... When I look at ordinary people of faith, I marvel at God growing uncanny strength, from inside out. In the past 24-hours I witnessed the resilience of a down-to-earth family who has endured a lot of heartache over the years. Certainly, their cancer journey has taken an exhausting toll, but more than weathering them weak, I [...]
Good morning... "May we have faith in the unfolding of our lives," hoped yesterday's paraphrase of Psalm 106, "and radical trust in the universe." What does it mean for us to learn to radically trust the Sustainer of our universe? Researching the meaning of "radical" in its original language, two Latin words pop up. The adjective "radicalis" means "of, [...]
