Good morning... "This is not God's will," the minister said at the celebration of Eliza's vivacious, twenty-eight year old life. "This is outside the will of God, but not outside the love of God," he tried to explain the deep mystery of grief. But I had just written in our blog post, "I entrust Eliza’s life to God’s [...]
Good morning... Walking our dog, I noticed a dead cardinal in the grass beside the sidewalk. Such a gorgeous bird. Brilliant red. Lying motionless. Dropping our dog back at home, I picked up a dust pan, hopped in the car and returned to the bird. Scooping this beauty into the dust pan with a stick, [...]
Good morning... I wake early with a song on my heart. Hearing it on the radio one day this week, I thought, "I should check out that music video." Then I promptly forgot to follow through on the nudge. Right now, the Holy Spirit reminds me again of my earlier urge, so I search for and savor the [...]
Good morning... "How has your day been?" she texted me on Saturday. "Special. Really special," I replied. "I spent the day copying notes from the final prayer journals of my friend Julie Harlan. I enjoy learning the deep roots beneath Julie's Dream, the non-profit started in her honor. She is all about authentic relationship, about getting kids outside [...]
Good morning... "I love love love this photo and the joy and peace it pours into the dreams gestating in our hearts," I texted the artist, my dear friend Corinne Adams. "I am spending the morning meandering through Julie Harlan's prayer journals, discerning in more detail the root system beneath Julie's Dream." "It's a dream scape, indeed," Corinne [...]
Good morning... Above the upside down photo dumping out all of my dreams hangs a Corinne Adams original. For Corinne, for you and for me, God is the ultimate Dream-giver. The LORD's higher, healing ways generously overflow into our ordinary lives. This is how the Bible explains God's life-giving process. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, [...]
Good morning... Shared in a recent blog post, many of you love this Goodwill photo I decided to hang upside down on our wall. Symbolically, I thought I had emptied out every dream from this photo - dreams for the hungry children we have met on mission trips over the years, dreams for our four kids, our kids' [...]
Good morning... I will remember last night's gorgeous wedding because of the white umbrellas passed out in the rain, my husband's heartfelt message to the bride and groom, a chance to talk and dance with incredible people, and the reading of a Mark Twain poem I had never heard before. A marriage makes of two fractional lives a [...]
Good morning... Yesterday I unpacked this quote in our blog post, What Is Joy? Remember, my friend sent me the photo above along with these words: "Thought you would like this. From a wonderful collection on the Black experience. She has a beautiful poem by the same title." So I googled the title and pulled up the poem, [...]
Good morning... Last Sunday our churches celebrated Pentecost Sunday, honoring the moment when the Spirit of God swept through the first followers of Jesus Christ. Our Bible tells God's story. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to [...]
