Good morning... I was deeply touched by the song performed at the celebration of life for twenty-eight year old, Eliza. When I got home from the reception following the service, I googled the song title and found the music video below, performed by the original artist sitting at the piano, staring ahead, and singing through her own dark [...]
Good morning... I have been slowly walking beside a grieving friend as God tenderly cares for her faithful family flock. Today we will celebrate together the life of one special twenty-eight year old woman, a vibrant young woman who has shared God's living light with so many in our community. As God prepares my heart to walk in [...]
Good morning... This Memorial Day, I am drawn back to a story in one of my all time favorite books. I turn to page fifteen. Slowly I read again about the ravages of war and the trauma of abruptly losing a loved one. ****** Excerpt from The Hidden Life Awakened by Kitty Crenshaw and Dr. Cathy Snapp Betty [...]
Good morning... In God's great timing, I snapped this photo the day before I received an important email. I took a picture of this large, makeshift ark for a friend in Florida who was deeply touched by our grief podcast in December. Especially she loved our encouragement that God quietly builds for us a protective ark to live [...]
Good morning... My oldest daughter chose to give up social media for Lent. "Welcome to my world," I said, "it's peacefully wonderful." I don't twitter or tweeter, "snap a chat," "inst a gram" or "face a book," but I do love when friends send me nourishing nuggets. That's what happened on February 28th, 2021. The image above came [...]
Good morning... Five years ago today the spirit of a young man returned to the God who gave it and later in the week his body was returned to the ground from which we came. Our grieving community experienced with new eyes one of my favorite Bible verses: Then shall the dust [out of which God made man’s [...]
Good morning... This morning, I have no idea why my computer returned itself to emails from this very same week five years ago. Back then, a subscriber to our everyday blog had sent me the photo above from her back yard in Florida. In retrospect, now I realize I felt much like the silhouette of this lone little [...]
Good morning... I returned the tools to my master gardener friend after my husband and I shared our pruning adventure. Now we wait, we watch, we wonder, "What new growth will eventually appear?" As I shared in yesterday's blog post, The Power of Pruning, my constantly curious friend taught us about "restoration pruning." She added "Some call it [...]
Good morning... "Good morning, Sue," a woman wrote after yesterday's post Cupid Dreams Big, a post highlighting beautiful gifts formed from brokenness. She went on to share this story. "Many years ago we found ourselves together at a retreat at the Ignatius House," she recalled. "I was a mother deep in grief from the recent loss of my [...]
Good morning... "I really don't want 2020 to end," she said quietly as we talked in her garage, protected from the drizzly rain. "2020 will always be the last year my husband was alive." Her deep sorrow is not alone. For many of us, 2020 is the last year our spouse or our parent, our friend or our [...]
