Good morning... After re-working yesterday's post, I touch on the Henri Nouwen online devotional, and God's Spirit flows me further down the exact same wavelength. It is as if Nouwen is continuing the final sentence of our morning message, a sentence which reads: "If we prayerfully listen well to the inklings of God’s Spirit stirring in our soul, [...]
Good morning... "Sue, how do we make sense of the senseless?" she emailed after yesterday's post, How Can Students Shoot Students? "We thank you for trying." "Yesterday, I felt compelled to call my sister, who lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado," her email continued. "As we are were catching up on unimportant details of each others lives, one by [...]
Good morning... This Maundy-Thursday morning, we meditate on the gentle gifts given by our Lord. "Meditation is like taking a little time to sit on a park bench," writes my friend, 93-year-old Christian mystic, Betty Skinner, "touching your old Friend's hand, feeling the warm sunshine together, gazing at the new blooms that have unfolded overnight, listening for what [...]
Good morning... Whatever life phase surrounds us right now, this day and each day is distilled down to two simple tasks. Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well [...]
Good morning... "My practice has always been morning and evening prayer," our new-since-August headmaster at The Lovett School said as she spoke this week to our "Moms In Prayer" group. "The past several months this habit has been more challenging. Quieting my thoughts. Carving out the time. At night, staying awake." "But there is a gift someone gave [...]
Good morning... Opening time and space in these first wee hours, I wait for God to whisper. Who knows what will bubble up and spill on my journal? As I wait, quietly attentive, I strangely feel drawn to doodle. I doodle my memory of 93-year-old Betty Skinner's room in her assisted living facility in Florida. I sketch her [...]
Good morning... "Did you read Sue's devotional? I thought it was unfortunate that she chose an unflattering story about Bryant Skinner after his death," read one text that came into my phone after yesterday's post. Oh no. I felt dread. Self-doubt. Embarrassment. What had I written that could be seen as unflattering? Had my prayed-over words been a [...]
Good morning... She said to me honestly, "With all of the division in our world, religiously and politically, I really am not sure how to pray." Her confusion made me think of Sue Monk Kidd's comment: "To believe you can find your way 'home' through the crises and the sufferings that fall upon you - and believe it [...]
Good morning... In the early morning darkness, I quietly unravel more. My soul skips back to that verb from yesterday's post. "Unravel" piques my interest, so I google her definition on Dictionary.com to disentangle her many facets. clear up resolve disclose explain sort out unriddle To separate or disentangle the threads of (a woven or knitted fabric, a [...]
Good morning... Beloved American poet Mary Oliver tiptoed over from earth to heaven one week ago today in Hobe Sound, Florida. Might three of her most famous quotes shape our prayer time this morning? Read each. Pause quiet. Wait inspired. "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" "Instructions for [...]
