Good morning... As the rains set in yesterday morning, our afternoon plans needed to change. As regular weekly volunteers, we brainstormed indoor activities for our final Monday gathering at PAWkids. Beading. Board games. Musical chairs. Freeze dance. Then came the Program Director's request. "Cookie decorating, maybe?" My happy heart lit up. Since I have a mom who loved [...]
Good morning... I picked out the perfect Mother's Day card, wrote my loving thanks in my own handwriting, and stuck it in the mail earlier this week. As my mom opens the card and feels the love of our family, I hope she will listen closely to the lyrics of the music video below, A Mother Like You [...]
Good morning... We had great time at PAWkids yesterday. Laughing. Dancing. Playing ball. Making tissue paper flowers, homemade cards, and wrapping donated jewelry for Mother's Day gifts. Enjoying a generous dinner served by the Tuesday night Bible study from Northside Church. We had a really great time. [...]
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 [...]
