Good morning... Last night power drained out of me, as I taught a roomful of women at a nearby church. The requested topic? The Enneagram, an ancient personality test used by Christian mystics. My source of exhaustion? A new group of people, a plethora of information, tons of creative energy expended. The greatest grace experienced? Afterwards, I had [...]
Good morning... As I woke in the middle of the night, I opened an amazing gift which has been many years in the making. I watched the touching talk seventeen-year-old Audrey DeShelter shared with a large audience at a recent fundraiser for the fight against childhood cancer. Audrey has been the focus of a handful of our blog [...]
Good morning... After snapping a photo of still branches silhouetted in purple gray, I revisit a quote shared by a friend before the dawn of a new day. "Sit with it. Sit with it. Sit with it. Sit with it. Even though you want to run. Even when it’s heavy and difficult. Even though you’re not quite sure [...]
Good morning... In our weekly therapeutic community group at PAWkids, we gather with men and women from different backgrounds, with different skin colors, different ages, different life stages. What do we all have in common? We all face various challenges in our daily lives. We all need God's healing power. We are all constantly learning what it means [...]
Good morning... In October, many of us contributed items to fill fifteen welcome bags for the Ignatian Spirituality Project (ISP) retreat for women recovering from homelessness and addiction. God's blessing shone all over our collective generosity. What a wild fishes and loaves experience! This morning, sixteen women from two nearby residential rehab programs will be picked up at [...]
Good morning... Many of us were watching Monday Night Football when a 24-year-old player stood up after a tackle then collapsed to the ground. Play was stopped and the game was suspended as Damar Hamlin received CPR on the field before being taken by ambulance to the nearby hospital. Hamlin remains in critical condition. "Pray for this sweet [...]
Good morning... Trash piles high this time of year. Empty boxes. Used wrapping paper. Unneeded extras of all kinds. Into my own mess of excess, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer shares a short, thought-provoking poem. carrying out the trash this, too, a holy path Small. Simple. Stimulating. My mind plays with ideas sparked. To carry out the trash, one must have [...]
Good morning... In a week that "should" be festive and fun, many people I love are wrestling with some really hard things. Hearing the heaviness of others, I am prayerfully drawn down into a sense of melancholy blue. The grueling impact of cancer. An untrue accusation drives a long legal battle. The ugly cycle of marital strife is [...]
Good morning... As the days shorten and the nights stretch long, we are instinctively drawn into holy hibernation. During these dark winter months, we stay inside more, watching and waiting for the life of Christ to be born in us anew. We are each miraculously made, hardwired to thrive in the silent dark, like babies in the womb, [...]
Good morning... In good times and in bad, "soul friends" surround us. We are God-with-skin-on to one another. It's as if the Holy Spirit-in-me and the Holy Spirit-in- you enjoy life-giving conversations. Yesterday in our final Friday morning class, we revisited a favorite quote about what it means to be a "soul friend." ****** Excerpt from Simple Faith [...]
