Good morning... I am grateful for technology, for the ability to communicate with loved ones near and far. I will keep forever the beautiful string of texts Julie Harlan and I shared privately over the final thirty-eight days of her life. I scroll through the eighty-five text messages exchanged and I smile, so grateful for my friend. Some texts [...]
Good morning... "Please transform my desires," I hear my deepest self say. "Please transform my desires into Your desires." I desire love. I desire power. I desire beauty. I desire wealth. I desire comfort. "LORD, help me to rest in Your love, Your power, Your beauty, Your wealth, Your comfort. Gradually surrendering more of me to more of You, [...]
Good morning... Betty Skinner walked slowly from the rugged valley of clinical depression up toward the mountaintop of joyful oneness with God. How did she do it? Betty took one healing step at a time. Solitude. Silence. Contemplative prayer. Eating well. Journaling thoughts. Creating art and poetry. Focusing on life's positives. Talking honestly with others. Enjoying long walks outside [...]
Good morning... As she and I talked after yesterday's class, God's Spirit revealed wisdom: "Comparison kills. Conversation brings life." When we catch ourselves comparing, beating ourselves up for not being "good enough" or seeing ourselves as "superior somehow" to someone else, might our brain tell our heart to raise a white flag of surrender? In times of combat, the [...]
Good morning... How do we live through excruciating pain? We turn to Luke 22:41-45 (NIV) to discover a pathway. How did Jesus live through his darkest hours? 1) He withdrew a stone's throw beyond even his inner circle friends. We too give ourselves permission to withdraw, to separate, to take space away from even those we love the most. [...]
“I don’t believe God caused my cancer; I believe He has allowed it,” she said. “Cancer has become a part of God’s plan for my life.” At peace, she trusts God. 21) Jesus’ Pathway Through Pain How do we live through excruciating pain? We turn to Luke 22:41-45 (NIV) to discover a pathway. How did Jesus live through [...]
Good morning... Since Manchester by the Sea and Moonlight utilize images of water repeatedly, I googled, "What does water symbolize?" I discovered a fascinating quote. "Most often, water represents cleansing, life, and freedom. Water is a contextual symbol in (art and) literature...it can symbolize many things depending on how it is used in a novel or a story (or [...]
Good morning... Continuing yesterday's conversation, God drew me to an article entitled 40 things to give up for Lent and beyond, a list published in 2015 by Phil Ressler. Might we pick one inner quality to reflect upon during each of the forty days in Lent? There are forty days between Ash Wednesday and the Saturday before Easter, minus [...]
Good morning... Recently I was re-introduced to a prayer I love. Patient Trust Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it [...]
Good morning... In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' closest friends fell asleep. His request of them had been clear, "Please stay awake while I pray." Yet they fell asleep again and again. Instead of an angry reprimand, with grace in his voice Jesus spoke understanding, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41b, NIV). This sentence [...]
