Good morning... A dear friend regularly drops off poems in my mailbox at Northside Church. He slipped in a few important ones this week, poems I picked up following yesterday's loving funeral. These words struck me as essential for this day, for these challenging times, for this unique season of life. [...]
Good morning... Today's block on my calendar whispers, "Last Quarter," with a tiny sketch of a moon similar to the image above. Left half dark. Right half light. Now, to the light of a lamp in the dark hours of this night, I am drawn back to two quotes we read aloud yesterday during our final Monday class [...]
Good morning... Together we explored images of hope. Discovered in our self-protective cave, we are touched by cascading light. How might hope be painted on the rubble of our daily lives? We peer through a peephole of possibility. New life sprouts from the clouded mystery. Reaching from opposite sides, together we hold a darkened heart. What our lives [...]
Good morning... "I am going to read a Mary Oliver poem for Thanksgiving as part of our family's blessing," she texted. "Will you take a picture of the poem you choose and share it with me?" I replied. "I will be deeply with you in Spirit." Thursday at 8:41 am, I received her inviting selection. [...]
Good morning... "Thought of you and the Holiday Gathering you are doing," she texted along with the clever image above. She made me smile. She made me chuckle. She made me feel loved and supported. "A disco ball is hundreds of pieces of broken glass put together to make a magical ball of light," reads the Judi Holler [...]
Good morning... This has never happened to me before. I spent diligent time discerning our morning message in the middle of yesterday's dark night, then I unconsciously drifted to sleep on the couch where I write. I woke, climbed in bed, woke again, then headed into a very full day. "We didn't get your blog today," my dad [...]
Good morning... A quiet poem greeted me yesterday, a poem named Praying by Mary Oliver. ****** It doesn't have to be the blue iris, it could be weeds in a vacant lot, or a few small stones; just pay attention, then patch a few words together and don't try to make them elaborate, this isn't a contest but [...]
Good morning... Waking in the middle of this night, the moon is irresistible. I am drawn outside to capture the 3:00 am brightness casting a shadow on our deck. Light quietly befriends life's darkness. It always has. It always will. This week Kate Bowler shared the video below, reminding us day and night: Life is so beautiful. Life [...]
Good morning... I went with a dear friend to the CeCe Winans concert at the Fox Theatre this week. This week, as Jerry's body was laid to rest at age 64, leaving his family and friends to grieve. This week, when thousands of ordinary people have lost their lives on all the ugly sides of our world's deep [...]
Good morning... "Miss Sue! Miss Sue!" said two eighth grade counselors-in-training in our after-school program at PAWkids. "Can we get our picture taken with you?" I felt joy on many different levels. First, I have become enough of a regular around this special, bonding place in the Grove Park community that these kids know me by name. How [...]
