Good morning... One week ago today, my husband and I sat on our back porch watching online the celebration of life service for a fifteen-and-a-half year old who died unexpectedly. Being ministry friends with his dad, our hearts broke for this faithful family and their many friends on that solemn Holy Saturday, before the resurrection power of Easter [...]
Good morning... I have been pondering a portion of the Richard Rohr quote shared in our recent post Our Uphill Climb. "...do not waste a moment of time lamenting poor parenting, lost job, failed relationship, physical handicap, gender identity, economic poverty, or even the tragedy of any kind of abuse," wrote Rohr. In my heart of hearts, I [...]
Good morning... Very graciously she said to me, "I don't want to open your blog and hear about negative stuff happening in your community. Cancer. Suicide. Tragedy after tragedy. I have enough hurting people struggling around me. I don't need your painful experiences piling on mine, dragging me down. I read your morning messages hoping to be inspired, [...]
Good morning... "We are not helping our children by always preventing them from what might be a necessary falling," writes Richard Rohr on page 28 of Falling Upward, "because you learn how to recover from falling by falling! It is precisely by falling off the bike many times that you eventually learn what the balance feels like. The [...]
Good morning... Before Saturday's memorial service for a young man who is deeply missed, one of his high school friends did her healing part to share the words on her heart, offering a touching tribute to her three classmates who have died since their graduation in 2017. Here are segments of her loving words. ****** We sat in the [...]
Good morning... “Hi Sue, I hope you are well,” wrote a friend from last year’s Sr. Moms Study. “I have prayed over whether to share the news of this latest suicide with you. While mine and my family's lives have been touched by several of the other incidents in our community, this one hits the closest to home. [...]
Good morning... I woke to her email, short and deep. I wrote her right back, deep and long. Somehow God ministered to both of us as we unpacked our pain. Sharing just my private response, I invite you into our intimate expression. ****** Personal Email from Sue Allen - August 30th, 2019 Another suicide? Yes, it is completely [...]
Good morning... "Sweet Sue," a mom wrote to me yesterday. "While I absolutely related to yesterday’s post very well, today’s title got me right in the gut. I really didn’t have to read anymore. Your timing. God’s timing. My son was in the Greek Village yesterday at the University of South Carolina when the student who took his [...]
Good morning... Our posts from this week start and end with a video of a statue created by God through the young hands of Michaelanglo. The statue is named the Pieta, which is an Italian term for pity (compassion, commiseration, condolence, sorrow, sadness, sympathy). It is a sculpture depicting Mary lamenting over the lifeless body of her son Jesus resting in [...]
Good morning... "That 'letter' is very well done," one of you wrote to me after yesterday's post, Someone You Know Needs This. "What many people don’t understand is that the sadness is also a liar. And a really good liar. And the sadness will surely tell the person it is living in that all of those people would be [...]
