Good morning... This week I met the perfect poem to begin this brand new year. ****** Start Close In by David Whyte Start close in, don’t take the second step or the third, start with the first thing close in, the step you don’t want to take. Start with the ground you know, the pale ground beneath your [...]
Good morning... Three exquisite 4 x 6 inch cards. What an amazing Christmas gift given by my friend. The first card depicts Mary with the Christ child developing in her womb. What do you see as you ponder the image above? I see dark skin, yellow light, lots of shining stars sprinkling the rich royal blue, inside and [...]
Good morning... If you look closely at our old weathered tree skirt, you will see that it was handmade in 2001, twenty years ago this Advent season. Red felt. Gold cording. Not sewn but glued. Glittery gold paint captured our children's names, ages, and handprints. Back then, our kids were six, four, two, and six months old. Born [...]
Good morning... Over Thanksgiving break we were up before anyone else in our family, so my oldest daughter and I enjoyed coffee and a great conversation. I asked her, "So what new thing is God teaching you right now?" Since she has left her job as a medical assistant and is now meeting with people who are interested [...]
Good morning... "Every time our ordinary life bumps up against an unavoidable loss, there are choices to be made," concluded our blog post yesterday morning, Our Passage To New Life. "Will we allow the loss we are currently facing to be a passage to something new, something wider, something deeper? Like the Israelites following God's lead out of [...]
Good morning... "Life wins," she said quietly. We watched green, vibrant growth crawling all over a fallen tree. Walking the trail at the Ignatius House Retreat Center, we noticed other tangible evidence of God's undeniable truth. "Life wins." We admired a tiny, tenacious fungus bursting from the center of another decaying tree. "Life wins." [...]
Good morning... One night when I was up in the dark, early hours, I happened across a captivating video sharing the story of a global non-profit called charity: waters. Several months later, my young friend Joanna said, "I have been invited to go on assignment for charity: waters." My memory returned immediately to the story of this fascinating [...]
Good morning... "Good morning, Sue," emailed a reader I have never met from Tennessee. "Just had to share that your message on marriage came to me on what would have been our 34th wedding anniversary, having been married at Northside United Methodist Church June 6, 1987. You and I, as believers, know that there are no coincidences! Thanks [...]
Good morning... I will remember last night's gorgeous wedding because of the white umbrellas passed out in the rain, my husband's heartfelt message to the bride and groom, a chance to talk and dance with incredible people, and the reading of a Mark Twain poem I had never heard before. A marriage makes of two fractional lives a [...]
Good morning... "The old song of my spirit has wearied itself out," on the first Monday of this month she read to me over the phone. "It has long ago been learned by heart so that now it repeats itself over and over, bringing no added joy to my days or lift to my spirit. It is a [...]
