Good morning... When I wake from my second sleep, I do not flip on the lights. Instead, I plug in the single strand on our Christmas tree. Striking a yummy smelling match, I quietly light candles. One. Two. Three. Four. In darkness, we begin each day. The natural rising of the sun quietly sheds light. This week, I [...]
Good morning... "God Works While We Wait," says the ornament in a pristine box. But waiting feels like being stuck, and being stuck feels yuck. "If you get stuck, lower your standards," my mentor said nonchalantly. ***** If You Get Stuck by Sue Allen If you get stuck, lower your standards. Breathe deep, intentionally. Open space. Wait. Wait [...]
Good morning... As I emerged from a time of deep down prayer, I noticed anew the layers of light living in our home. How often do we take time to notice the layers, the light, the power of life? Elizabeth, a young mom of three who is undergoing intense treatment for her colon cancer, wrote something in a [...]
Good morning... During this night as the moon fills with light, I am drawn to my new book of poems, Poetry of Presence. Randomly flipping to page 57, I nestle into this moment at hand. There is so much we cannot change about this wounding world. Yet, moment to moment, we [...]
Good morning... For years we have heard stories about the hometown of our good friends who grew up in Circleville, Ohio. Rural. Midwest. Duplexes. Trailer parks. Picking up road kill for a summer job. Using a choke hold to settle an argument. Walking or biking everywhere. Penny candy store. Drive in movie theatre. Community swimming pool. Public basketball [...]
Good morning... As we settle into non-anxious silence, God's inner music begins to beacon. We are gently drawn toward the peace, the power, the presence of God. "Sue," she wrote after yesterday's blog post, "I always feel overwhelmed by the number of people that I love who desperately need prayer. I could sit all day and hope to [...]
Good morning... Yesterday I met up with a friend for a walk-and-talk early, before the high heat of the day set in like soup. She happened to be nannying for a baby, pushing the cute redhead in a stroller. Our usual weekly routine includes walking through the entrance to the horse farm on Polo Lane, but this day [...]
Good morning... This wordless prayer card I created, which remains front and center for me this week, depicts my deepest desire for Audrey DeShetler: May she live to be a wise, old woman. A resilient eighteen year old, who is battling through her fifth relapse, Audrey was diagnosed with neuroblastoma at age five. Being treated with risky radioactive [...]
Good morning... When I was growing up, summer was a unique season to savor. Back then, summer always started after Memorial Day weekend, and we didn't returned to school until after Labor Day weekend. School schedules have certainly changed, haven't they? With an early August start for many schools, the months of June and July now condense the [...]
Good morning... Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind (Romans 12:2a, VOICE). As a friend shared with us an intriguing Richard Rohr quote, I separated the sentences into stand alone truths, truths in which we now steep ourselves. "If we do not [...]
