Good morning... Following the surface chatter of saying hello, catching up, settling in, we begin each class with few minutes of silence. Meeting outside to minimize COVID concerns has been marvelous this semester, just marvelous. The breeze picks up and dies down. The birds chit-chat then quiet down. An occasional loud truck lumbers by as we deepen down. [...]
Good morning... "Please stay with me on Monday," she texted our friend group from Sloan Kettering in New York City where their teenaged daughter will undergo surgery to remove her recurring cancer. "It will be a long 10 hours." Spirit to Spirit, from Atlanta to Idaho to NYC, the texts of our five friends came delightfully close. Love. [...]
Good morning... The sun set on three lives in three days in my own personal corner of the world. Friday, the middle school daughter of a middle school teacher at our school tragically died in the crash of a small engine plane. Saturday, a lifelong friend who was in our wedding finished his grueling battle with ALS. Sunday, [...]
Good morning... For me, the symbol above embodies the power of prayer. Sitting quietly in a corner of our home, this antique fire extinguisher holds lots of wild-haired curly-Q's and is coupled with a handheld vintage fireplace blower. "What," you might ask, "do these old objects have to do with prayer?" During our Friday morning class, I thought [...]
Good morning... Deep prayer is MINE to do, so with God I experienced yesterday's eerie extremes. "I don't watch the news often," I wrote in my 99-cent, black leather journal brought home from Goodwill, "but I feel drawn to do so today, this unique day of death and debris." Enveloped in the eerie silence, I watched the Dignified [...]
Good morning... Waking on this Sabbath morn, my muddied heart sits still amid high winds and hard rains of various kinds. Though I am safely up the coast, I feel a prayerful solidarity with those hunkered down in the path of Hurricane Ida. I am praying, minute by minute, for the daughter of a dear friend who finally [...]
Good morning... "I came home from the beautiful memorial service," I wrote in my journal, "exhausted from listening, exhausted from crying, exhausted from socializing. But as I sit still with myself right now, I realize that the most exhausting thing for me is knowing that these could be our grieving children. With their three kids born in the [...]
Good morning... The faithful family of my friend has endured loss after loss, tragedy after tragedy, heartache after heartache, year after year. For decades I have walked alongside as a compassionate, committed prayer warrior. On Sunday, June 13th, I received this text from my forever friend. "Please keep an eye on your phone today," she requested. "We don't [...]
Good morning... I knelt in the prayer chapel at Northside Church, asking God to hold close, to gently lead, to heal whole those facing various forms of agony. I had followed the footsteps of Jesus into this inner sanctuary. Then he withdrew from them a short distance to be alone. Kneeling down, he prayed, “Father, if you are [...]
Good morning... As we head into Holy Week (tomorrow is Palm Sunday), I think Henri Nouwen's meditation from yesterday provides powerful perspective. ****** DAILY MEDITATION | MARCH 26, 2021 - Jesus’ Hiddenness I don’t think you’ll ever be able to penetrate the mystery of God’s revelation in Jesus until it strikes you that the major part of Jesus’ [...]
