Good morning... Along life's way, many women lose at least one child to miscarriage or to a full term still birth. I myself had four miscarriages before giving birth to our four great kids. This is a quiet grief with empty arms, a grief which reshapes our soul. "It is good for me to stop and feel the [...]
Good morning... I love this Halloween photo of our nephew and his expectant wife. On the morning after Thanksgiving, many of us wake stuffed. "Today's average American lives more comfortably than the nineteenth century's wealthiest tycoons, who never beheld the sky from an airplane seat, browsed a website, heated soup in a microwave, or looked at a color [...]
Good morning... "The whole person is involved when we give thanks from our hearts," says Br. David Steindl-Rast. As I wake early this Thanksgiving morn, my heart is saturated with gratitude. I am grateful for small, simple pleasures - a furry blanket and cozy socks that hug my feet just right. I am grateful for my husband and [...]
Good morning... Our Friday group finished the fall semester last week, yet we have remained connected through a lively email string. Regularly we share words of encouragement as we pray for Elizabeth, the 37-year-old daughter-in-law of our classmate, who began her first round of chemo on Monday for advanced colon cancer. "I want to tell you all how [...]
Good morning... As I wake in gratitude for these early morning hours, I envision myself quietly living my favorite Mother Teresa quote: "I am a little pencil in the hand of writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." As I invest two or three hours prayerfully pondering, writing, and editing words during the wee [...]
Good morning... I hold my heart wide open in prayer as I ponder with God the needs of many. I am held together through veins of prayer with loved ones throughout the world, a limitless gift with eternal benefits. "Sue, your prayers are invaluable to me," texted my friend's mom who is turning 90 this week. "I am [...]
Good morning... In the wee, quiet hours of this night, I am drawn back to our blog post from yesterday, Steve's Message For This Week. It seems many of us can relate to the positive wisdom offered. With God, I spend time personalizing the list of biblical encouragements. With things going well for me during this life season, [...]
Good morning... "Gratitude attracts more reasons to be grateful," whispers one little card. "Heaven is breaking through the veil all day, every day," echos The Hidden Life Awakened by Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy Snapp. "Hot coffee, warm fire, beautiful sun diamonds on the river, eyes of love looking into yours, animals, children, art, grass, cool breeze, changing [...]
Good morning... "Coping is something we do when we are overwhelmed," says the single note I took at our therapeutic community group at PAWkids yesterday. Instead of searching for the words in the puzzle above, I decided to search my heart, pondering the given list of helpful coping skills. Smile. Clean. Exercise. Walk. Water. Sing. Relax. Turtle. Laughing. [...]
Good morning... Opening the mail yesterday, I received a letter from my dad. As promised, he sent me a check from Ohio to support PAWkids, the non-profit ministry in inner city Atlanta with which I am actively involved. He sent a donation in honor of the three year old grandson of the Norwegian exchange student who stayed with [...]
