Good morning... "What do joy and grief have in common?" asks poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. "...The ability to evoke feeling that pushes us and opens us and helps us to be compassionate and helps us fall in love." In the 10-minute video below, released yesterday for this holiday season, Rosemerry reads poems that span grief and joy from [...]
Good morning... "Do you realize that sometimes your words (actually God’s) speak in ways so far beyond the original intent?" she emailed me after yesterday's post, The Doorway To Hope. "I’m so sorry you’ve shouldered so many deaths to those close to you lately, but I am grateful your messages are of purpose and hope and peace for [...]
Good morning... A quiet poem greeted me yesterday, a poem named Praying by Mary Oliver. ****** It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate, this isn't a contest but [...]
Good morning... As I wake in the dark of this night, I notice three unique things. The heat has kicked on, as temperatures drop. The wind chimes are going wild, as the breeze picks up. And my mind is flooded with prayers for my friend, as she prepares to lay her husband to final rest today. Then I [...]
Good morning... As quiet ripples of moonlight rest on our bathroom floor, I snap a photo and prepare to write in the middle of this night. First, I open an email my husband and I had discussed yesterday. Reading Steve's words with my own eyes makes the many layers of loss feel much more real. "Dear Israel Trip [...]
Good morning... As my mind quietly shifts from asleep to awake, I take one huge breath and immediately think of my friend Anne. Today the Landers' family will reverently lay Jerry's body to final rest, but, joy of joys, Jerry's robust spirit has already returned to our God, carried in the arms of his best friend Jesus. I [...]
Good morning... Sitting in silence with God and each other, we "come to rest" at a deeper, wider place within our soul. Prayerfully living from our innermost self, we are invited to gather around a common table. One of my favorite poets pulls up a chair and helps us to grieve deep losses together. ****** Only a Few [...]
Good morning... Gathering around the kitchen island as one dear friend prepared a birthday dinner for another dear friend, we were discussing how important Jerry and Anne Landers have been to our church family, for years and years and years. Teaching Sunday school. Leading Bible studies. Facilitating worship experiences. Instigating healing prayer. Volunteering on committee after committee. Sharing [...]
Good morning... A friend emailed me the Nouwen devotional below. It serves as a grounding reminder: joy and sadness are born together. ****** DAILY MEDITATION | SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 - by Henri Nouwen - Every Bit of Life is Touched by a Bit of Death Joy and sadness are as close to each other as the splendid colored [...]
Good morning... I pulled the three stapled pages from my mailbox at church and read his kind note. "I wanted to share this poem by Billy Collins in case you haven't read it before. Collins wrote it in 2002 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of 9/11/01. I think it captures the heartbreak of the senseless taking of hundreds [...]
