Good morning... Last Saturday, the end of a cherished era came to a quiet end. My husband and I were planning to spend the night at Red Top Mountain in our beloved pop-up camper, but the night before he said, "Suz, we are 62 years old, I wonder if we have reached the end of our camping days." [...]
Good morning... “What kills a soul?" asks Shauna Niequist author of Present Over Perfect. She answers herself: "Exhaustion, secret-keeping, image management." "And what brings a soul back from the dead?" she wonders. "Honesty, connection, grace.” For me, what will it be? Exhaustion. Secret-keeping. Image management. Honesty. Connection. Grace. As I notice where my heart is drawn, I focus [...]
Good morning... "Sue," she wrote. "Yesterday a local acquaintance posted this on Facebook and I shared it with another still reeling from a death. I found it a different kind of living with grief, and it gave me comfort, even though it's been years since my Mother died." ***** The Sacred Work of Grieving by Spirit of a [...]
Good morning... Discussing our constant need for prayer, one friend paraphrased a Max Lucado quote like this: "Anxieties, fears and regrets land on our windshield but then comes the wiper of prayer that causes them to depart." Later, another friend shared with us the exact quote in its entirety. ****** Let God In by Max Lucado When we [...]
Good morning... I have been delightfully out of cell service for 90 percent of the past three days. Traveling with my husband on his new venture with the Lovett School, we have loved bonding with our group of sixteen, mostly strangers who are becoming fast friends. Steve is creating of an adult trip program, and I get to [...]
Good morning... In yesterday's summertime Zoom book study, our conversation was rich and enlivening. The word "stone" stood out as a symbol to remember. In The Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence writes on page 37: "As for my set hours of prayer... Sometimes I consider myself there as a stone before a carver, whereof he [...]
Good morning... Yesterday a friend shared a poem entitled Utopia. Together, let's read slowly and ponder the meaning of this story. ****** “Utopia” by Louise Glück When the train stops, the woman said, you must get on it. But how will I know, the child asked, it is the right train? It will be the right train, said [...]
Good morning... When I am left without answers to the anxious questions stirring in my heart, I can totally relate to the words of Psalm 13. How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? (Psalm 13:2a, CSB). For a few freeing moments, the clarifying voice of Alisa Turner helps me [...]
Good morning... "Sue, the full moon is setting over the water this AM in Cape San Blas," texted my friend yesterday morning. "Not a bad spot to spend the week of work!" Her gorgeous photo made me excited all day, looking forward to seeing the nearly full moon from our back porch tonight. Curious, I stepped out to [...]
Good morning... As I sat in the airport waiting to fly to Ohio for my dad's 88th birthday weekend, I got a text from a long time Northside Church member. She was on her way to pick up her husband from the hospital after his recovery from a scary emergency surgery. Airport. Hospital. Our interaction reminded me of [...]
