Good morning... Many of you could relate to yesterday's post Sadness Is A Low-grade Fever. As I was editing the message to make it more meaningful, the sun came out after several grey days and a subscriber sent me this heart-warming video. "I hope this makes you smile, Sue," he wrote, understanding that sadness and joy are flip-sides [...]
Good morning... Another Mary has come into my life this holiday season. A subscriber wrote: "Sue, your readers may enjoy 'Making the House Ready for the Lord' by Mary Oliver. It's a favorite of my poetry group at St. Anne's Terrace." So I took his advice and I checked out this poem, written in 2006, by this new-to-me Mary, [...]
Good morning... My inbox was inundated after yesterday's post, I Was Just Trying To Help. Often we are blind to the ways our "helping" hurts. I will share three email exchanges fleshing out our tendency to addictively "help" without God's consent. Why do we think we are a better savior than our Savior? ****** Martha's comment: "Oh Sue what [...]
Good morning... "Blessed are the flexable, for they shall not be bent out of shape," says the church sign welcoming the holidays. To be "bent out of shape" implies that we start with a strong, solid shape in mind. Consciously or unconsciously, we think we know how the holidays "should" go, "should" look, "should" feel. Yet our best [...]
Good morning... On Saturday, August 4th, 2018, three of us hiked quietly through a mountainous forest near Cashiers, North Carolina. We came upon an interesting plaque beside a fallen tree. "Competition is fierce in nature," read the engraved words, "even among the beautiful trees, shrubs, and herbs in the forest. Sunlight, water, and nutrients are quietly 'fought over' by [...]
Good morning... Media images expose California's charred devastation. Haunting. Horrifying. Heartbreaking. So much beauty and vibrant life reduced to soot, ashes, remains. The smoldering stench in the air must smell suffocating. Two men I love live in California. One a family member, the other a forever friend. One a Democrat, the other a Republican. One homosexual, the other [...]
Good morning... At ages eight and eighty-one, my mom and dad diligently dismantled their home this fall to leave Berea, Ohio on November 1st. Having thrived in our hometown for fifty-something years, this morning they wake up in an unfamiliar two bedroom, two bath villa about twenty-five minutes away. I sensed the imminent move last spring when my [...]
Good morning... Many of you resonated with my recent post My Ministry As A Mermaid. I am grateful for your encouragement, and I have received so much more than your kind affirmation. God drew me into intimacy in surround sound, though a child's voice, through a journal, through a necklace, through a wine label, and eventually through my [...]
Good morning... Our friend missed class on Friday. She was on the panhandle of Florida surveying the devastation. Friday night she sent me a picture of the calm, gorgeous water after the storm with an email describing her family's experience. With her permission, I share her words with you. ****** Our Friday Morning Friend's Experience of Hurricane Michael [...]
Good morning... After last week's post, Plant Today's Crumbs, I will lean back and let your crumbs of gratitude fall upon the page. Collecting our crumbs and warming our daily bread in the oven of time, today we will each savor a sacred slice. ****** Our Crumbs of Gratitude by "Sue To You" subscribers My crumbs of gratitude [...]
