Good morning... Alongside our own morning messages, I receive one other online devotional. The Henri Nouwen Society sends out select words from Nouwen's plethora of books. Deep. Short. Touching. Most days I make time to mull over these meaningful meditations. This week Nouwen's inspired words have resonated richly with what God is teaching us together. As I work diligently [...]
Good morning... "In the human world, abundance does not happen automatically," writes Parker Palmer on pages 107. "It is created when we have the sense to choose community, to come together to celebrate and share our common store. Whether the scarce resource is money or love or power or words, the true law of life is that we generate [...]
Good morning... After reading yesterday's post, God's G.R.A.C.E. Travels, she sent me a brief, beautiful email: "Sue. You are a creator of community. Thank you for that." Then she forwarded me another devotional message she had received that morning. ***** Reality Is Communion - Richard Rohr, Sunday, May 6, 2018 In the beginning God says, “Let us make humanity in our [...]
Good morning... "Blessings to you for daily messages that are life changing," she wrote after Revisiting Our Favorite Posts. "Sue - I am a creature of habit," a friend emailed. "I read your post every morning and love your daily messages. I have two to suggest to repeat this summer..." "Truly, ALL your messages are my favorites and special gifts [...]
Good morning... My friend's sleep was disturbed by obsessive feelings. Jealousy. Entitlement. Confusion. Rejection. Her voracious mind craved answers. Hash it out. Decide some details. Needing answers became a nightmare. Her mind went into overdrive until she read our post We Grow G.R.A.C.E. She texted me her middle-of-the-night realization: "I took a little trip away from GRACE." Moving back [...]
Good morning... Yesterday in my journal I unloaded my frustration: "I woke around 4:00 am today and went to read the 3:00 am morning message I had written and scheduled before I climbed into bed. Clicking on the purple link to Awaken Wide-Eyed Wonder, I was roadblocked by 'This page cannot be found.' Ugh! I hate it when that happens. I hate [...]
Good morning... For over thirty years, I have written in a journal most every day. A journal has been with me through our four years of infertility, grieving our four miscarriages. A journal has been with me through four full-term pregnancies and four natural childbirths. A journal has walked with me down the valley of depression and up the [...]
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... To commemorate Good Friday, we consider deeply the death of Christ captured in Mark 15:33-39 (NIV). At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”(which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When [...]
Good morning... The Thursday before Easter is called Maundy Thursday. Christ's final "mandate" is commemorated today, with "maundy" being a shortened form of the Latin word "mandatum," which means "command." What command or mandate is so important to Jesus that it is given its own special day in the church year? At Thursday's Last Supper with his disciples, Jesus says: "A new [...]
