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 [...]
Good morning... I drink comforting coffee from my "melt-me-more" mug as I ponder the purpose of a revealing exchange. Recently sharing a genuine hug, I said, "I appreciate you," and at the very same time he said, "I love you." I felt the mismatch of emotional expression, much like the uneven awkwardness from a Bachelorette episode. For years [...]
Good morning... Many of you resonated with my recent post My Ministry As A Mermaid. I am grateful for your encouragement, and I have received so much more than your kind affirmation. God drew me into intimacy in surround sound, though a child's voice, through a journal, through a necklace, through a wine label, and eventually through my [...]
Good morning... We are a skipping stone. Skimming across life's smooth surface. In constant motion. At break-my-neck speed. We feel in control as we fast-forward to our goal. For a while. Newton famously says, "An object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." An [...]
Good morning... "Grandma, look, a mermaid!" I heard a little girl's voice shout from the shore as I swam this summer in Tingley Lake. Treading water, I gave my best "nod, smile, wave," like a beloved princess decked out at Disney World. Mermaid. I rarely run into that word, but the day after we returned from visiting family [...]
