Good morning... Fifty-eight years ago today, my husband Steve surprised his parents by arriving three weeks early. From the pulpit as a Presbyterian minister, his father was able to announce a double meaning at each Christmas Eve service, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given!" Fast forward to now. Do you remember that [...]
Good morning... Over the phone, she describes in detail her favorite painting of the newborn Jesus with his mom and dad. She notices the image as her guide for this unusual Christmas. She begins, "It's a dingy stable room instead of a soft warm space. The setting reminds me of the small, one room apartments we would encounter [...]
Good morning... She said, "I'm relating more keenly to Mary and Joseph this COVID Christmas." She went on to explain her line of thinking. After a long, uncomfortable, cross country trek, jostling on a donkey nine months pregnant, Mary and Joseph finally arrived at the inn. Their stopping place. The end to their grueling journey. Relieved to have [...]
Good morning... At Goodwill, pre-pandemic, I was drawn to the ugliest necklace I have ever seen. Gaudy and overcrowded. Heavy and weighed down. Haphazardly strung together and hanging on by a thread. As I picked up the necklace, examining the creation more closely, I admired the individual stones. Natural, God-made gems. Each gemstone was unique, size, shape, and [...]
Good morning... I found this unique cross at Goodwill years back. It hangs on our bedroom wall, reminding me that our broken pieces are mended mysteriously by the grace of God. I have pointy pieces, shattered shards, childhood chips. So does everyone I love and everyone I sometimes hate. The question for each of us becomes, "How might [...]
Good morning... My husband and I watched a couple taking engagement photos on the beach. The rising sun peaked out of the clouds. The waves ebbed and flowed in sync. The perfect dreams of these young strangers were played themselves out before our eyes. Thinking back to the day before, Steve had performed a wedding for another beautiful [...]
Good morning... He has made everything beautiful in its appropriate time. He has also put obscurity in their hearts so that no one comes to know the work that God has done from the beginning to the end (Ecclesiastes 3:11, MEV). "Imagine that you're unwell and in a foul mood, and you're driving through some lovely countryside," writes [...]
Good morning... As our website crashed this week, I anxiously worried, "That's bad!" Then, just like in one of our kids' favorite books, my initial "That's bad!" surprisingly morphed into "That's good!" Let me tell you the story. In this delightful yellow book, a little boy has a comical series of mishaps as his visit to [...]
Good morning... "Good morning, Sue," she texted today at 8:03 am. "This is the second morning your wonderful blog posts have a funky format and are not opening. Anyone else mention that?" God and I have been working on a computer issue with our web designer for the past thirty-six hours. Something with a server. Something with a [...]
Good morning... I walked up our stairs to the hometown bedroom of our college freshman, and this shocking image is what I saw. Appalling and endearing? Mess and excess? Raunchy and reckless? Most of you might be more mortified than I as you look at this crazy chaos, but my momma-eyes zero in on wonderful remnants of our [...]
