Good morning... There are separating lines between us. From all sides, opposing forces jockey for power. Good and evil. Left and right. For and against. Us and them. Seen and unseen. Opposing forces exist also within, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn illuminates. “Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor [...]
Good morning... Because all the green leaves have been nibbled from our ivy, now our ten borrowed sheep pull up and eat the thick brown vines in our back yard. It's been fascinating to watch these creatures eat, eat, and eat some more, eighteen hours a day they say. The sheep have learned to come to my gentle [...]
Good morning... "The sheep are coming! The sheep are coming!" read yesterday's family text from my husband Steve. The fencing has been erected and the sign for John the shepherd's business is ready to be placed in our front yard. Today is the day our flock of sheep with arrive to take care of our overgrowth, our pesky [...]
Good morning... I wake to remnants of our oldest son's engagement party. A homemade congratulations banner. A line-up of photos from their eight months of dating. A frig full of leftover food and beverages. Remnants of a wonderful whirlwind weekend. Just now, as I sat down to blog about our one-of-a-kind Saturday, at 1:40 am came a rustle [...]
Good morning... In our backyard, remnants of old blend with green growth of new. Yesterday, I snapped a few photos capturing signs of death and rebirth coexisting in the garden. Now up in the middle of the night, I feel drawn to don my slippers, to grab a pair of scissors, and to snip off, one by one, [...]
Good morning... Walking the familiar sidewalk into our backyard, I noticed a yellow blossom at rest on a bed of dying brown. I lifted my eyes to see extravagant buds all over the sprawling vine. This was the day I noticed anew, "Everything is changing." What "used to be" is dying, [...]
Good morning... The praise band led us in a meaningful song. I thought of all the dusty rubble blanketing Ukraine. All our living bodies that came from dust and will someday return. The humbling pain of the lost, the grieving, the vulnerable. The organic growth of hope that mysteriously sprouts from our chaos. Revisiting the simple lyrics now, [...]
Good morning... 89 cents. 89 cents. 89 cents. Plus my 25% Tuesday discount at Goodwill, since I am happily over fifty-five. I spent a whopping $2.00 on a threesome of aromatherapy candles, each with a uniquely delicious scent. One for the morning. One for the daytime. One for the nite nite. I did not know what would happen [...]
Good morning... "I'm feeling very stretched," a friend texted me yesterday. I could relate. I could totally relate. In a weird way this mid-December week reminds me of the Christmastime I was nearly nine months pregnant. Then and now I feel stretched beyond my comfortable capacity, like I want to jump out of my bursting skin! Romans 8:22-25 [...]
Good morning... Just like the miraculous multiplication which fed 5,000 hungry people (with leftovers to spare), we each shared our own puny fish, our own little loaves. One friend donated a tree skirt and a handful of heart ornaments. Another brought lights - some big, some small, some colored, some white - along with some jingling bells and [...]
