Good morning... Last Monday our class had a "Cousin Itt" experience with Paula D'Arcy's Seeking With All My Heart. Overwhelmed by wild-haired emotions and immersed in concepts way over our heads, we could not see truth with our individual eyes, so collectively we expressed, "I did not get that chapter at all." "Paula's understanding is way beyond mine." [...]
Good morning... She walked into our foyer on the first day of class and, after sharing an "I missed you" hug, she pulled from her purse a bulletin from her eighteen year old niece's memorial service. I marveled at pictures of the same smiling face growing up through the years, a down-to-earth face I will not meet until [...]
Good morning... Letting go is hard. Leaving gone may be harder. We let go of last chances, life phases, loved ones we miss. We let go of incessant thoughts, controlling agendas, pre-planned expectations. We let go of our need to know, our desire to direct, our jolting judgement: "You're wrong. I'm right." Letting go of phases, people, and power [...]
Good morning... Though the media focused formally on the dress, the couple, and the royal family, yesterday's historic wedding ceremony gave full attention to our Triune God. I was half-watching the festivities when our Creators's Spirit captivated me, drew me in. So I got out my journal to jot down sketchy notes from the sacred service. "Marriage is made [...]
Good morning... Many of you have written to me about the pain of losing sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and extended family members. Our fruitful branches have been and will be pruned back by the death of a loved one, again and again. We know what it feels like to love and to lose, [...]
Good morning... Over the phone, my faraway friend saw into my seasoned soul, reflecting back my deepest truths (see yesterday's post Our Community of Trees). I am settling into a place I never wanted to be planted. God is growing in me a gift, the gift of expressing the invisible things none of fully understand. My trust is growing stronger [...]
Good morning... This is the question grabbing my attention from yesterday's post Eight Questions To Ponder: "How have I been shaped by the strongest hate and the strongest love?" Asked by the speaker to quickly jot our first response to each of the eight questions, my answer to this question tumbled onto two lists. Strongest hate: Names of my [...]
Good morning... He sent me a poem last week, a poem giving voice to our shocking loss, now a poem speaking truth in the wake of a school shooting, and, years back, a poem ringing true on the day it was written by a 12th-century Jewish poet. ****** 'Tis A Fearful Thing by Yehuda HaLevi (1075 – 1141) ‘Tis a [...]
Good morning... "Many years ago I was a part of a church in which an upcoming vote would decide the church's future," writes Jan Johnson on page 153 in When the Soul Listens. "I asked God to show me the wiser choice, but no insight came. All I seemed to hear was 'Don't forget to love." "I replied, 'And?'" "I [...]
Good morning... "Your post today inspired me to think about how to deal with ourselves when we start to panic," a friend texted after reading yesterday's message, Trust God In Life's Noise. She continued, "We are told to 'breathe.' What if we thought of that breathing (which should be long on the inhale and even longer on the exhale) [...]
