Good morning... During the last week of my summer break, I spent time in Athens, GA with our eleven week old grandson Charlie. Our son was away with work for four days and our daughter-in-law had a big, important job as a wedding florist, so I came into town to care for Charlie. It all sounded like a [...]
Good morning... During the dark night of our soul, we slow down to simplify everything. Do not chase. Simply bloom. Stay rooted in Christ. Grow in grace. Trust God's timing. What belongs, He will bring. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through [...]
Good morning... The Juneteenth holiday commemorates the emancipation of enslaved African Americans on this day in 1865. June 19th is the perfect day for the Obama Presidential Center, in the south side of Chicago, to open its welcoming doors to the public. In yesterday's opening ceremony, Michelle Obama spoke these encouraging words. "Y'all, hope is all we have, [...]
Good morning... I love the rhythm of our Women's Ministry at Northside Church. We enjoy a fertile fall semester and a wonderful winter/spring semester, then, for the summer, we channel all of our study and our service opportunities into a few awesome options. Our weekly summer reading group begins at 10:00 am on Wednesday, June 3rd. Our first [...]
Good morning... Last week in class, we read aloud much of my favorite chapter in Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak. In a chapter entitled All the Way Down, Parker unpacks the most life-giving description of depression I have ever experienced. I posted some of his words yesterday in our blog Befriending Our Depression. Today, I feel drawn [...]
Good morning... Many of us admire the raw honesty shared by Savannah Guthrie in her Easter message to the world, a message highlighted in yesterday's blog, Savannah's Deep Sorrow. Following the unsolved abduction of her 84-year-old mother, Savannah is waiting in the MEAN time of not knowing, not understanding, not having the answers she craves. "Wow, wow, wow!" [...]
Good morning... Recently, my husband Steve and I hosted a Community Christian Seder. People from all walks of our lives over the past thirty years joined us to celebrate the Jewish tradition of Passover overlaid with the life-giving teachings of Jesus. What a meaningful evening we enjoyed together. As we know, Jesus himself was celebrating a Passover meal [...]
Good morning... Yesterday, at the exact perfect moment, we discussed the final two chapters of Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May. Today, we wake up to the first official day of spring. Just like that, we melt from one season into the next. Katherine has this to say on the last [...]
Good morning... As my husband and I were away visiting my family in Ohio this weekend, our dog sitter retrieved from the front porch bag after bag, box after box, donated item after donated item. Yesterday, I spent time assembling and dropping off the fifteen Welcome Bags we created for the recovering women arriving for the ISP retreat [...]
Good morning... Flying home from Ohio in the early morning dark, I looked out the window and saw the intriguing image above. We were flying forward with black direction arrows pointing back. Somehow it felt like the world we are living in right now. Confusion. Conflicting messages. Flying forward while being directed backward. It reminds me of an [...]
