Good morning... After reading our post Our Community Of Trees, a grieving mom wrote me: "I definitely feel like a small hurting tree stump in a community of giant, strong, loving redwood trees that have sent their nurturing root systems to help me regain strength and bloom again. What a powerful metaphor to draw strength from on the hard [...]
Good morning... Many of you have written to me about the pain of losing sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and extended family members. Our fruitful branches have been and will be pruned back by the death of a loved one, again and again. We know what it feels like to love and to lose, [...]
Good morning... As I sit on my back porch at this time of the year, I see the color of new growth bursting on bare branches. Now and forever, I will call this light, bright color “Julie Green.” One year ago today, 42-year-old Julie Harlan died, a loving wife and mother, a loyal daughter and sister, a long-time friend [...]
Good morning... As a class, we found Parker Palmer's insights very, very convicting. We all love people who experience seasons of suffering. We all want to help people out of their pain. Yet, when Parker was "in his misery," loved ones came to offer "sympathy that led him deeper into despair." Experience this excerpt from Let Your Life Speak [...]
Good morning... As the Holy Spirit slows down our pace, we pause and look left. Where were we when the God's glitches began wreaking havoc? Together we were diving deep into the valley of depression. After a rash of suicides, school shootings, and violence at home and abroad, concerned people are commenting, "We must closely consider the collective and personal [...]
Good morning... During my suffering season, I did share deeply with a small handful of old friends. That level of me was important to walk and talk through with trusted companions. And then there were two cloudy levels deeper, deeper still. My deepest core level was lived just with my God. Our hard-fought wrestling match, bout after bout, was [...]
Good morning... So many of you have responded so kindly to our recent posts revealing my experience of deep depression (Heavy And Hollow) and of my fear that people would think less of me because of it (I Feel Like Jerry Maguire). Thank you all for resonating with my realness. In their extreme contrast, two responses in particular taught me [...]
Good morning... In my book, I put a question mark by a new-to-me word. Evanescent. Do you know what "evanescent" means? I love to treasure hunt truth, so I get to googlin'. "Evanescent" means soon passing out of sight, memory, or existence. Quietly fading. Quickly fleeting. Brief. Short-lived. Vanishing. "Every person's life is lined with memories, keepsakes, habits, and [...]
Good morning... From Jacksonville, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia, one subscriber sent an interesting quote to comfort our community: "I remember reading this quote in Tullian Tchvidjian’s (Billy Graham’s grandson) book Glorious Ruin - 'The good news of suffering is that it brings us to the end of ourselves...brings us to the place of honesty, which is the place of desperation, which [...]
Good morning... I knew exactly what she meant: "I feel like I am tiptoeing on broken glass." When life shatters into shards, we tread tenderly with loved ones, fearing their pain, fearing ours, fearing bare and bloodied feet. Vulnerably inching into grief, the only way through is through. Sometimes shoes are necessary. Sometimes they are not. I knew exactly [...]
