Good morning... "I miss Steve's beautiful words," she responded after yesterday's post, Steve Shares Our Strife. "Thank you for sharing his inspirational thoughts here. This reminds me of a little prayer from Richard Rohr, 'God, help us to love in some small way what you love infinitely.'" "Such wisdom," I replied. "We alone cannot muster love, but, in [...]
Good morning... When I browse the chaplain's message below, written by my husband Steve, I vividly remember the story of strife he shares from our younger years. Now as I look at the unrest on college campuses and intense conflicts at home and abroad, I wonder along with Steve, "Why does God allow us to wrestle, fight and [...]
Good morning... I wake in the middle of this night with one word on my mind: retreat. As I am drawn to explore the word on Dictionary.com, I notice that, as a noun, retreat means "a place of refuge, seclusion, privacy." I see that as a verb, retreat means "the act of withdrawing, as into safety, privacy, seclusion." [...]
Good morning... I brought two good friends with me to the Maundy Thursday service at Northside Church yesterday. After reading about Jesus serving his first communion at the Last Supper (Luke 22:14-23) and his painful struggle to surrender to the will of God in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-53), we were all invited to kneel at the [...]
Good morning... In the middle of this droopy, drizzly night, I think back on the most meaningful two hours of this week. On Sunday night, Elizabeth, the 38-year-old daughter-in-law of our dear friend Joan, shared a really hard post, explaining that her colon cancer had spread. "Any chance you all can have lunch with Joan and I tomorrow?" [...]
Good morning... In the middle of the night, I pull out the "blob tree" tree that I crafted during our therapeutic community group at PAWkids this week. I know there is violence on the corner of a distant branch. I know there is loneliness and isolation and despair. But, feeling like the purple person on the perch, I [...]
Good morning... I love the way God bubbles up to blossom between us. The Holy Spirit nudged a loyal friend to share encouragement with our class yesterday: "Thinking of each of you and your families this 3rd Sunday in Lent. What a beautiful reflection below from my ever-favorite Henri Nouwen." ****** The Spring of Living Water by Henri [...]
Good morning... My prayers are sent forth to the families and friends of the two young people who died this week at the University of Georgia. A young woman was murdered while on a run in a familiar area and a young man hung himself in a freshman dorm. Classes were canceled yesterday as the whole community processes [...]
Good morning... "It is a blessing to still have our mothers," a friend wrote after visiting her mom for her 86th birthday. I just returned home from Ohio after a successful surgery for my own 85-year-old mom. "Praise the Lord for good news about your mom's surgery, Sue!" wrote another dear friend. "Speaking of [...]
Good morning... I loved overhearing my parents' conversation in the kitchen as I got ready in the living room for my mom's surgery day. "Well, I had my first surgery on Labor Day and now hopefully my last reversal surgery on President's Day," astutely said my 85-year-old mom. "You can tell I was a kindergarten teacher, always moving [...]
