Good morning... Continuing yesterday's conversation, God drew me to an article entitled 40 things to give up for Lent and beyond, a list published in 2015 by Phil Ressler. Might we pick one inner quality to reflect upon during each of the forty days in Lent? There are forty days between Ash Wednesday and the Saturday before Easter, minus [...]
Good morning... During our Listening Group yesterday, we placed our base on this truth: God is love (1 John 4:8b). God is patient. God is kind. God does not envy. He does not boast, is not proud. God does not dishonor others, is not self-seeking. He is not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs. God does not [...]
Good morning... "I guess I view Lent as a season of shaking," I said as I stepped to the microphone to end our Women's Lenten Communion Service. I explained that one of my favorite Christmas traditions is cutting down a fresh Virginia pine from a nearby tree farm. We go together as a family, circling around and around to [...]
Good morning... Prayerfully reflecting on our intimate conversation, God exposed my own fearful coping mechanism. In the face of tearful, grieving pain, I talked too much. I took up too much space in the room. Stuck in my head, I rambled on. An excessive amount of words poured out of my mouth, as I tried to explain God's big [...]
Good morning... Every morning, I try to discern a truth God is teaching. "...he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat [for nourishment]?” says the Lord. Is not My word like fire [that consumes all that cannot endure the test]?” says the Lord, “and like a hammer that breaks [...]
Good morning... I passed a sign in the front lawn of a little church. "What you hold on to is your God." If I were the sign-putter-outer, I would change three things. The pronouns. The capitalization. And I would add one more word. "What we hold on to fiercely is our god." First off, God is God, and God [...]
Good morning... For me, this holiday season is officially over. With back to back birthdays for my husband and Jesus, December 24th and 25th, back to back birthdays for our two oldest kids, January 6th and 7th, and my high school senior's final PDC dance on January 9th, my holiday season is officially over. I love to look at [...]
Good morning... I love meeting new people in my weekly classes each semester. One special woman I met last fall sent me a beautiful blessing to begin this new year. "May you be delightfully cracked open in 2017 ;-) When you start to crack open, don't waste a moment gathering your old self up into something like you knew [...]
Good morning... The man who had everything craved even more. "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" demanded the rich, young ruler. Jesus replied in the man's achievement-oriented language, rattling off the famous checklist. "You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor [...]
Good morning... A funky movie clip plays with my brain as I consider walking away from 2016. I feel like Navin (Steve Martin) walking away from Marie (Bernadette Peters) in the 1979 movie "The Jerk." "Well I'm gonna to go then! And I don't need any of this," says Navin. "I don't need this stuff, and I don't need [...]
