Good morning... "Grandma, look, a mermaid!" I heard a little girl's voice shout from the shore as I swam this summer in Tingley Lake. Treading water, I gave my best "nod, smile, wave," like a beloved princess decked out at Disney World. Mermaid. I rarely run into that word, but the day after we returned from visiting family [...]
Good morning... Before choosing a book for each new semester, I prayerfully nestle into a few chapters from a small handful of possiblilities. God knows what lies before us. God knows our every need. I totally trust the LORD to nudge: "This is the book for the season ahead." Then I put the book down before reading it fresh, [...]
Good morning... Releasing our "secondary loves" into the care of Our First Love, we are silently drawn into unity with the God who created us. I recently read a short story describing creatively the process of us melting into our true, salty self. ****** The Salt Doll by Anthony de Mello (1931-1987) A salt doll journeyed for thousands [...]
Good morning... Gone. Eerie. Devastating. These are just a few of the words traveling from Florida's panhandle through our TV screens. Shattering. Twisting. Splintering. Aerial images of Mexico Beach show the ravages of Hurricane Michael. Power out. War zone. Ground zero. At ground zero, our lives are reduced to rubble. From the raw wreckage, we stumble into the first [...]
Good morning... "The more we let God take over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us," says C.S. Lewis. "He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first [...]
Good morning... Alongside our own morning messages, I receive one other online devotional. The Henri Nouwen Society sends out select words from Nouwen's plethora of books. Deep. Short. Touching. Most days I make time to mull over these meaningful meditations. This week Nouwen's inspired words have resonated richly with what God is teaching us together. As I work diligently [...]
Good morning... Our family’s life-changing move from PA to GA happened fifteen years ago next month. Over those extended years the seedling of my true self has settled into this southern soil, growing roots, sprouting more, spreading seeds. But I will never forget the beginning stages of my journey toward wholeness. When my dream-life was first uprooted, the seed [...]
Good morning... My dear friend emailed after yesterday's post, Hearing Me Let Go. "In the spirit of 'letting go,'” she wrote, "I share this precious story that my dad shared with me. He’s nearly 85, and his buddy from when he was a kid sends him all kinds of things that he finds online. Thinking of this story being [...]
Good morning... At our final Friday gathering of the semester, we shared the memorable words, quotes, and insights we loved best from Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak. In the course of our life-giving conversation, one of the women told us of an acronym her minister had recently shared. "Some asked me to repeat," she emailed later, "so here it [...]
Good morning... Yesterday in Sunday School, we unpacked the middle portion of the Apostles Creed. Considering the various valley times in our lives, we processed the three portions of our life-changing "check mark" experiences. Descending into hell. Waiting in the tomb for three grueling days. Ascending high into heaven in oneness with God. Each time tragedy strikes, this three-step [...]
