Good morning... The last time I wrote to you, I had been Out Of Cell Service for three full days, savoring the rustic beauty of Siempre Verde, Ecuador, a magical place where The Lovett School maintains an amazingly lush property on a remote mountain in the cloud forest. Traveling to the second half of our trip with a [...]
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... As the light of the moon thickens in the sky, we sense the presence of the Almighty God. In the morning, the conclave will begin the process of electing the 267th Pope, following the death of beloved Pope Francis. The Holy Spirit will lead this secretive process, drawing a two-third-plus-one majority vote from among the 133 [...]
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 [...]
Good morning... In the middle of this big moon night, I spend time with the beautiful bulletin from the celebration of life service for Mary Lynne Hamilton. I am inspired by her smiling face, her joyful essence, and her passion for the truth of God. I think I love this sentence most: "Mary Lynne is more alive now [...]
Good morning... I was thinking about all of those who have lost loved ones this holiday season. Husbands. Wives. Sons. Daughters. Siblings. Parents. Friends. One person told me, "It feels like whiplash. I was expecting a joyful Christmas, and we had a funeral instead." Then I opened an email that supported my prayerful pondering. "I came across this [...]
Good morning... These glass bottles line one window sill in our living room. They serve as a reminder of God's repeating process of growth, change, regeneration. The egg of our potential exists. Then, unexpectedly, things fall apart. We sit still in the sticky mess, empty, empty, empty. Over time, the seed of new life begins to form, "Amazing [...]
Good morning... In the earth's Northern hemisphere, tonight is the winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice. The winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year. At dawn, we will wake up into the first official day of winter. I happen upon a poem to shed light on this [...]
Good morning... Hurricane hell. Deep depression. Open heart surgery. Harsh cancer treatment. War and terror. Division, divorce, and death. Darkness seems to seep into every crevice of our wounding world. "The power of God's promise stunned me so much that I actually gasped out loud," writes Kay Warren on page 105 of Choose Joy. I will give you [...]
