Good morning... Author Paula D'Arcy knows the upending sensation of sudden loss. Before diving into Paula's book Sacred Threshold: Crossing the Inner Barrier to Deeper Love, I read aloud to our class a few pages from her first book, Gift of the Red Bird, written in 1996. Listen to the healing heart of the wise woman who guides [...]
Good morning... "I love your post today!" she wrote yesterday after experiencing our morning message Just Show Love. "I posted one of your quotes to my Instagram. So cool. God is really talking through you these days!" Look at God's love shining through my creative friend. As I have told you before, I do not Instagram, [...]
Good morning... He was in my youngest daughter's high school graduating class. She's now twenty-two, he, twenty-three. This morning we will go to his funeral at the school where the kids attended and both of his parents have taught for years. As friend, colleague and school chaplain, my husband will officiate while I am quietly present, bearing witness [...]
Good morning... The radiance of the Bethlehem star and the light of the living Christ now intermingle, inviting us forward. The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son. Generous inside and out, true from start to finish (John 1:14, MSG). [...]
Good morning... I love being the first awake on Christmas Eve morning. I turn on our tree lights, look a moment at our nativity, and mix up the chocolate batter for my husband's fifty-ninth birthday cake. We will celebrate as a family at 1:00 pm today before I work the second shift at Northside Church, welcoming worshippers to [...]
Good morning... Resting amid a golden cloth, green branches and red berries, the baby Jesus was swaddled on the altar at the Ignatius House Retreat Center. Surrounded by Christmas ornaments, glowing candles and the winter woods, the hands of the Christ child were held open and uplifted. The moving image took my breath away. So real. Sacred. Powerful. [...]
Good morning... "Hi Sue," she wrote. "I have fully experienced how close the Lord has been in my grief, and no doubt, He alone has saved me. I do feel like He is blessing me tremendously and showing me tremendous favor as I begin to live again after Dalton’s death 5 1/2 years ago. Still so fresh." "However, [...]
Good morning... "Have you ever felt like nobody was there?" begins the song. "Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere? Have you ever felt like you could disappear? Like you could fall, and no one would hear." I think we all have moments when we would honestly answer "yes" to these gut-wrenching questions. "Well, let [...]
Good morning... "Praying for you and Steve," she texted prayers for my husband and me. "So much grief and sadness in our community and in our world. The Lovett School has been hit hard with death in just a few weeks and I am so sorry for the loss of your friend." "Our daughter is at UNC," she [...]
Good morning... We cannot fix, avoid or deny the pain of people in our community, but God can draw us near. We cannot say, do or express the perfect thing at the just right moment, but God can love through us. We cannot stop grief, tragedy or excruciating loss, but God can hold in our heart those stuck [...]
