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 [...]
Good morning... First thing this morning, I am drawn to a poem written on September 11th, 2021. The words help to integrate all of the sights and the sounds, the images and the memories burned into our collective conscience since that terrible Tuesday twenty years ago. ****** When the towers fell by Steve Garnaas-Holmes, www.unfoldinglight.net When the towers [...]
Good morning... As summer slowly turns toward fall this sacred Sabbath morn, please savor with me a 360-degree look at the powerful shades of God. The God of gods, the mighty Lord himself, has spoken! He shouts out over all the people of the earth in every brilliant sunrise and every beautiful sunset, saying, “Listen to me!” (Psalm 50:1, TPT). ...Sue... [...]
Good morning... "Sue," she texted yesterday, "we are also at the beach on St. George island. This morning we watched the sun rise in the east and to the west we saw dark threatening clouds moving across our beautiful island. But looking up between the light and the darkness was a full rainbow celebrating God's promise of his [...]
Good morning... At the beginning of this stormy week, I watched the sun rise. On my way back from the beach, I happened upon a slender, cream colored cat. Completely ignoring the warm sun at her back, this elegant little creature was caught gobbling down garbage. The image reminds me of an email I recently received [...]
