Good morning... Yesterday, the first Sunday in Advent, my cell phone was filled with two tender text strings from our Monday and Friday groups. As our fall classes have ended, something new is beginning. Physically separate and mysteriously together, we're texting to process new births, fresh fears, and cross country moves. We're facing first holidays with cancer and [...]
Happy Halloween! "Everyone must decide," said Martin Luther King Jr., "whether to walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." "To be a person of faith is to make a choice to center one's life around the deeper center of gravity we call God, and the greater good of all creation, rather [...]
Good morning... On Wednesday evening, a group of nearly one hundred of us gathered at PAWkids to celebrate the life of 7-year-old Hailey Harris who died in a house fire along with her grandmother and two aunts. The 5:00 pm balloon launch in Hailey's honor actually happened around 6:00 pm, followed by grilled hot dogs and fixings, sidewalk [...]
Good morning... It was not a normal Wednesday afternoon. We moved our arts and crafts activities into the portable classroom so the PAWkids staff could set up for the special gathering outside. We learned all about last week's Homecoming dance. We helped kids make Halloween bracelets with a pumpkin charm. We allowed each child to create their own [...]
Good morning... Celebrating her 60th birthday season with my lifelong friend, I read a short poem to the small group gathered. ****** Handling by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer After years, what once was enormous, sharp and piercing now is rounded, polished, fits like a marble in the palm of my hand. This is what comes from touching it, brushing up [...]
Good morning... This week a song is gently marching through my mind. God personalizes the chorus. "I will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night. Sue, it's true, I will rescue you." Lauren Daigle's voice repeats over and over again. As I rest. As I wake. As I drive. As I [...]
Good morning... "Every time I see this cross on my wrist, I am reminded we are not perfect people," she wrote after yesterday's post. "Even with our imperfect selves we strive to get it right, to shine through darkness, and to live behind the smiles with a generous spirit. My cross is not perfect and it reminds me [...]
Good morning... "We cannot come to the altar in conflict," said yesterday's Betty Skinner quote. "But, God, hadn't we just written the opposite?" I thought to myself. Our post, Quiet The Voice Of Despair, had just revealed our honest truth: The voice of despair and the voice of "I love you" play tug-o-war in us sometimes. This common [...]
Good morning... She shared this reading out loud with us. By the end, her eyes were wet with tears. ****** The voice of despair says, “I sin over and over again. After endless promises to myself and others to do better next time, I find myself back again in the old dark places. Forget about trying to change. [...]
Good morning... In response to our recent blog post Helping Homeless Women, our written word community joyfully created 15 bags of abundant love. The bags will be placed in private rooms to welcome the women recovering from homelessness and addiction as they arrive this morning for our overnight retreat at Ignatius House Retreat Center. The blossoming of these [...]
