Good morning... Peace is a patchwork. Each and every day, we are designed to creatively fill in our part. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jesus both agree. "I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never [...]
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... "Indeed a humble man," filled the subject line of her email yesterday. "Good morning, Sue," she wrote. "I searched for this picture and 🙏 found it. My mom, daughter and I were heading home from New York City, and we were all held up boarding the plane. We could not figure out why and then we [...]
Good morning... As the sun rises on this new day, there are layers and layers of crowded needs. Where do we begin? We deepen into a poem which has guided the lives of many for over a decade. ****** The Work of Christmas by Howard Thurman from Bread for the Preacher, Dec. 2009 When the song of the [...]
Good morning... "Your greatest gift is not your gifts, but your surrendered yes to be a space for God," writes Ann Voskamp in The Greatest Gift. "The miscarriage of Christmas begins when anxieties crowd out the space within simply to carry Christ. Make room; be a womb. Be a womb to receive Christ everywhere, and it is He [...]
Good morning... A fun poem I met earlier in the week came to life at the PAWkids Christmas party. As a complete surprise, I was presented with a dozen red roses from the After-School Program Director. She was thanking me for all of the incredible Christmas bags our Northside Church women shared with the families of Grove Park, [...]
Good morning... My 86 year old mom has endured a series of falls, several surgeries, and nearly three years of slow recovery. One thing she loves is cards, cards that make her laugh. Freely displaying these clever treasures all around their villa, she is surrounded by tangible symbols of the lasting love of family and friends. This is [...]
Good morning... In the photo above, the words on the wall say it all. "This is our happy place." The generosity of people in our community astounds me. Bags of donated items for our annual Secret Santa shop for the PAWkids after-school program appeared at our doorstep all weekend long. I felt the holy privilege of touching each [...]
Good morning... In our therapeutic community group on Tuesday, I learned a brand new "F" word. Fecundity. According to the Free Dictionary.com, fecundity is a noun with two distinct meanings: 1. The quality of producing abundantly; fruitfulness or fertility. 2. Productive or creative power. Using yogurt, various fruits and granola, we were asked to create an editable piece [...]
Good morning... To process a variety of feelings in our therapeutic community group, we used a deck of thought-provoking cards. I had never before seen "Storm Journey" cards, and I found them quite intriguing. Each creative image, which connected to a single word, was designed to spark meaningful conversation. "We belong in a story of hope," read the [...]
