Mourning Benji’s Life

Good morning... At church this week, I stopped in the hall and talked a while with our Director of Student Ministries. I told him that I had heard he had done a really good job supporting the students who came to youth group on Sunday night. The night before, one of our own, sixteen year old Benji Reiser [...]

By |2025-09-19T06:07:32-04:00September 19th, 2025|Community, Death And Resurrection, Family and Friends, Grief, Healing|

This Hard, Heavy 9/11

Good morning... As we prepared to celebrate my husband Steve's thirty years of service to the Lovett School community, I found our wedding photo album from 1987. I snapped this photo of the photo of my dad walking me down the aisle. I was 24 years old. He was 51. Fast forward to today, September 11th, a day [...]

By |2025-09-11T10:18:48-04:00September 11th, 2025|Aging, Death And Resurrection, Family and Friends, Grief, Trust God|

A Hard Labor Day

Good morning... On a day set aside to celebrate the American worker, this is a hard Labor Day for many. Job loss. Unemployment. How to pay the bills? Instability. Threat of violence. Uncertainty about the future. Many feel torn apart, as discombobulated as this shadow photo taken by my artist friend Corinne Adams. "So many colleagues and amazing [...]

By |2025-09-01T13:57:13-04:00September 1st, 2025|Everyday life, Grief, Joy, Pain|

Pray With Your Feet

Good morning... Yesterday afternoon, I spent quality time with a friend who grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She's been to Annunciation Catholic School where this week's school shooting took place. She described loving her hometown and the people with whom she grew up. One high school classmate, Mark Donicht, is now a published author who writes under the [...]

By |2025-08-29T02:52:07-04:00August 29th, 2025|Community, Everyday life, God's Love, Grief, Light In Darkness|

He Welcomed Her Grief

Good morning... As we near 2:00 am, I take outside our little dog Gracie and stand barefoot in the wet, cool grass. As I look up, thick clouds surround the waning moon. Stretched wide and thin, the white vapors open space, a breathing room for blue. Blue. Cloudy. Stretched wide and thin. These descriptors animate the text string [...]

By |2025-08-13T03:07:59-04:00August 13th, 2025|Death And Resurrection, Family and Friends, God's Love, Grief, Prayer|

Tears For Tate

Good morning... On June 17th, we put our dog Tate to sleep. Now, eight weeks into her absence from our home, our family is still really missing her soft presence. This weekend I happened upon an award winning short film, a touching film that made me smile, laugh, cry. [...]

By |2025-08-11T03:42:24-04:00August 11th, 2025|Everyday life, God's Love, Gratitude, Grief, Healing|

Mooning Each Other

Good morning... "This is from Ogunquit, Maine tonight," wrote a friend who lost her husband in May. "So gorgeous," I replied, before climbing into bed. "Full moon tonight. Hope you are enjoying Maine's unique beauty and the companionship of old friends." "Full moon is gorgeous here, too," I texted [...]

By |2025-08-09T03:40:32-04:00August 9th, 2025|Everyday life, Family and Friends, God's Plan, Grief, Light In Darkness|

Grief And Galapagos

Good morning... Whenever I think of July 2025, two words will always come to mind. Grief and Galapagos. In June, the daughter of my dear friend, Audrey DeShetler, went to heaven the day before her twentieth birthday. Then, within the same week, our family put to sleep our beloved dog, Tate. Both Audrey and Tate battled cancer. Both [...]

By |2025-08-01T04:03:23-04:00August 1st, 2025|Abundance, Community, Grief, Nature, Spiritual Growth|

Grief Is Sacred Work

Good morning... "Sue," she wrote. "Yesterday a local acquaintance posted this on Facebook and I shared it with another still reeling from a death. I found it a different kind of living with grief, and it gave me comfort, even though it's been years since my Mother died." ***** The Sacred Work of Grieving by Spirit of a [...]

By |2025-07-30T01:37:32-04:00July 30th, 2025|Everyday life, God's Timing, Grief, Healing, Letting Go|

Pain Is Leftover Love

Good morning... As my friend has been processing her extraordinary grief, she texted a sentence that touched my heart. "I just saw a quote," she wrote. "The pain is the leftover love you don't get to give." Fires, floods, feuds. Loss, lethargy, loneliness. Death, disasters, depression. Cancer, callousness, calamity. Betrayals, breakups, bombings. Accidents, addictions, Alzheimers. There are so [...]

By |2025-07-24T05:56:07-04:00July 23rd, 2025|Everyday life, Grief, Healing, Pain, Trust God|
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