Good morning... When life crumbles all around us, we cling to the God who gives us breath. During our Friday morning class, I read aloud these convicting words. ****** Excerpt from Paula D'Arcy's Seeking God With All My Heart On retreat in Indiana, I listened to a tape recording of a talk by Henri Nouwen. Nouwen was challenging [...]
Good morning... Seeing through the shadows of our pointy porcupine of self-protection, God continues our conversation. The Lord called out to the man and asked, “Where are you?” The man answered, “I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!” “How did you know you were naked?” God asked. “Did [...]
Good morning... What is God saying to you from the gaping hole between us? This is what I hear right now from my side of the gap. God lives on my side and God lives on yours. Leaning into our LORD, we are buffered by God's living love. You are not designed to meet my needs and I [...]
Good morning... I am repeating this image from yesterday's post because I love it so. It captures my experience. In overwhelming moments, it is so very "me." Much like the Cousin Itt character in the 1964 The Addams Family TV series, sometimes I feel like my wild-haired emotions cover my entire body, especially hiding my eyes, rendering me [...]
Good morning... Yesterday as a family, we donned disposable hair nets with plastic aprons and gloves to assemble meals for the homeless through Hosea Feed the Hungry. For the first year of this annual Christmas tradition, I left feeling badly about the gift we had given. To me, the meals we served in styrofoam boxes felt unfair and inconsistent. [...]
Good morning... God sparks in me a quirky reading of Matthew 8:23-26 (NIV). Then Jesus got in the boat and his disciples followed him...they sailed on to Christmas morn. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake... "What if I don't get everything done?" "How do I allow my 'difficult person' to change my entire mood?" "Why do [...]
Good morning... Her response to yesterday's blog post, "Jesus drank wine," made me smile before making me think. She wrote: "To your first paragraph question - 'Why are we drawn to a t-shirt that reads "Jesus drank wine?"' Because some of us want Jesus to be like us, instead of wanting us to be like him. That's the short [...]
Good morning... "Jesus drank wine." That's what the t-shirt said. The clerk added, "We sell out of these t-shirts all the time. It's tough to keep them in our store." Why is that? Why are we so drawn to this truth? "Jesus drank wine." Because we want Jesus to sign our alcohol permission slip. If Jesus drank wine, it [...]
Good morning... "Dear Santa," the sign outside the restaurant reads, "what if we are naughty and nice?" We chuckle because we relate. Then we open our Bible to read about the 'naughty and nice' war raging within us. For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging [...]
Good morning... A soulmate subscriber, whom I have never met, sent me two quotes in response to my blog post yesterday. First she shared this truth: "Listening is the highest form of love." I adore this sentence! What wise encouragement. When we attentively listen we are actively loving. Next she quoted Bill Bullard: "Opinion is really the lowest form [...]
