Good morning... "Sue," she wrote this week, "your devotional about wide open spaces made me think of sharing with you the works of John O’Donahue. I learned of him through a good friend who was a Methodist pastor and a missionary to Ghana. I shared with him that the school I was teaching at was a Classical Christian [...]
Good morning... Yesterday's post contained the word unfurl. That's a active, little word. Sails and scrolls. Flags and fern fronds. Buds and butterfly wings. These things unfurl. Today in my reading I meet a similar, small word. Unfold. "We sometimes mourn how certain things in our life unfold," writes Paula D'Arcy on page 26 of Waking Up [...]
Good morning... "I love this," a friend sent me the following devotional. "You have shown me this art, to look for God in ordinary moments. I thought you might enjoy it." I think you might enjoy it too. ****** The Lie That Life Must Always Be Exciting by Patrick Omukhango We live in a world that treats excitement [...]
Good morning... We discussed our overwhelming overload. Suicide. Grief. Opinions. Division. Politics. Pain. Aging. Uncertainty. As we took time to breathe, she shared her favorite quote. "Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there." - Rumi Guided by the Spirit, about a year ago she collaged the wisdom during a [...]
Good morning... Thirty-nine years ago, on Memorial Day weekend, Steve and I were married in my hometown of Berea, Ohio. This anniversary morning, we wake in Athens, Georgia, new grandparents to Charlie, who is a week and two days old. Our youngest daughter could not come to meet Charlie at the hospital, since she woke that day with [...]
Good morning... When one odd word repeats itself, my keen awareness perks up. Yesterday, I reworked our post entitled Life Is A Patchwork. Then I climbed back in bed for my second sleep. When I woke again, I immediately read the following poem. Do you see what unusual word repeats itself? ****** "Rain Light" by W.S. Merwin All [...]
Good morning... At Scott's Antique Market, I found this Mother's Day gift for my mom. I sent it with a card for her to hang on a doorknob in their senior living community in Ohio. The cross stitched treasure reminds me of the many handmade creations my mom made as gifts over the years. The words share a [...]
Good morning... Walking beside the muddy banks of the Chattahoochee river, I was reminded of a quote from our final book of the semester, Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer. On page 79, Parker writes about the season of spring. "...before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck. I have walked in [...]
Good morning... On Thursday around noontime, we snapped the final picture of the semester. This week, our classes finished up Parker Palmer's beloved book Let Your Life Speak. Out loud, we read these words from page 76 of the last chapter: "In retrospect, I can see in my own life what I could not see at the time [...]
Good morning... "After hours of careful listening, my therapist offered an image that helped me eventually reclaim my life," writes Parker Palmer on page 50 of Let Your Life Speak. "You seem to look upon depression as the hand of an enemy trying to crush you," he said. "Do you think you could see it instead as the [...]
