Good morning... My oldest daughter chose to give up social media for Lent. "Welcome to my world," I said, "it's peacefully wonderful." I don't twitter or tweeter, "snap a chat," "inst a gram" or "face a book," but I do love when friends send me nourishing nuggets. That's what happened on February 28th, 2021. The image above came [...]
Good morning... Weeding through our overgrown ivy a few weekends back, I uncovered an old gift. This stained, clay square reads, "A garden of friends is always in bloom." On my fifty-eighth birthday, I sense this is true. Just as flowering occurs naturally in the garden, to my quiet amazement friendships bloom beautifully. Investing time together may cultivate [...]
Good morning... This morning, I have no idea why my computer returned itself to emails from this very same week five years ago. Back then, a subscriber to our everyday blog had sent me the photo above from her back yard in Florida. In retrospect, now I realize I felt much like the silhouette of this lone little [...]
Good morning... "Parked at a local church, I found my car window shattered," remembers my dear friend Corinne Adams. "I was distraught…until I saw the beauty of the broken glass. I knew I had to take it home. Slowly and surely, the little glass nuggets made their way into cuffs, pendants, belt buckles, rings and earrings. These unique [...]
Good morning... "I really don't want 2020 to end," she said quietly as we talked in her garage, protected from the drizzly rain. "2020 will always be the last year my husband was alive." Her deep sorrow is not alone. For many of us, 2020 is the last year our spouse or our parent, our friend or our [...]
Good morning... Her family is taking new form this holiday season as she experiences the two sided coin of her recent divorce. Old fears and new freedoms. Old hurts and new hopes. Old memories and new meaning. Though we are unable to gather in our living room for our weekly class, we walk and talk privately, regularly, with [...]
Good morning... The three of us get together each Advent to share a meal and exchange heartfelt gifts. Creatively continuing our tradition during COVID, she decorated her garage with red bows, calming light, wide open doors, and a beautifully dressed table beside a space heater. The atmosphere was warm and exquisite, enhancing the homemade food and our long, [...]
Good morning... Prayerfully seeking words of wisdom to read aloud to our Monthly Spiritual Direction group, I sensed the book from which I was to read, then I opened it to the only dog-eared page in my pristine "extra" copy. Sitting outside, bundled in jackets, blankets, and face to face connection, we pondered this powerful story. ****** Excerpt [...]
Good morning... In her text yesterday she made reference to her all time favorite blog post. I dug around and found it. I first shared this message with our online community on my birthday, March 23rd, in 2015. ****** Welcome Aboard the Train of Life by Sue Allen When we are born, our Creator pushes us from the [...]
Good morning... As I pulled from our mailbox a white 3 x 5 envelop, I was excited to receive a handwritten note. She expressed gratitude for our God-ordained friendship. We are quietly walking together through the deep valley of her grief. On the top half of the card, she had cut out and glued on a touching Henri [...]
