Good morning... "Aging is really, really hard," 92 year old Betty Skinner admits as we share lunch in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Her eyesight has dimmed. Her hearing is weak. The energy she used to take full advantage of has diminished. Yet contagious joy still beams through her presence. Irresistible. Unmistakable. Captivating calm. "People think they come to see me," [...]
Good morning... From Orlando, today I will drive two and a half hours to Ponte Vedra, Florida to share lunch with 92 year old Betty Skinner. It will be my third lunch with Betty, a tiny, tenacious woman who exhales God's joyous peace with each treasured breath. Nearing the end of her life, Betty shares a beautiful perspective [...]
Good morning... My inbox was inundated after yesterday's post, I Was Just Trying To Help. Often we are blind to the ways our "helping" hurts. I will share three email exchanges fleshing out our tendency to addictively "help" without God's consent. Why do we think we are a better savior than our Savior? ****** Martha's comment: "Oh Sue what [...]
Good morning... "Listen to your life," says Fredrick Buechner, writer, preacher, theologian. "See it for the fathomless mystery it is...touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." (Listening To Your Life, 1) We just had a conversation that did [...]
Good morning... "I must admit that I am THANKFUL to have another Thanksgiving behind me," a subscriber from Charlotte, N.C. writes as she grieves the loss of her young adult son. "Yesterday was tough, and also were the days leading up to it. The anticipation alone puts me in a state of angst, frustration, sadness and anger, all [...]
Good morning... Today is a new day. The sins of yesterday need not expand into the sins of today. Ugly thoughts. Biting words. Selfish deeds. Together with God, we can nip these painful buds right off our branch, letting them fall to the ground, to become humbling hummus for the soil beneath our feet. As we allow our [...]
Happy Thanksgiving... As we focus on what "is" gratitude grows. "Will I stop focusing forever on what was not given to me," wonders Paula D'Arcy, "and stop regretting the gifts that were brief?" That is a challenging question. Stop focusing on not. Stop regretting brief. As long as we focus forever on what was not given and repeatedly regret [...]
Good morning... "Blessed are the flexable, for they shall not be bent out of shape," says the church sign welcoming the holidays. To be "bent out of shape" implies that we start with a strong, solid shape in mind. Consciously or unconsciously, we think we know how the holidays "should" go, "should" look, "should" feel. Yet our best [...]
Good morning... Even with our best intentions, glitches fall through our cracks. We cannot catch every ball, juggle every commitment, do every little thing perfectly, each and every day. Being flawed sucks. Accepting flaws sparks growth. After sending out yesterday's post How Do We Forgive? I received several kind emails identifying an error. I went back to the message I [...]
Good morning... "I’m sensing a difficult time for you right now, and I’m praying for you and missing you," began my dear friend's email from yesterday. As I write in transparency, people see me, sense me, surround me with prayer. In the early morning hours, I felt supported by my friend, loved, known, understood. "Thank you for intuiting [...]
