Good morning... Resolutions. Some make them. Few keep them. Why, by now, have many good intentions waned? Because the focus of most resolutions is on our own external efforts. We promise to do more or less. We strive to look better, feel better, act better. At the beginning of each year, many of us commit again to perfecting our [...]
Good morning... After yesterday's post, I pondered all day, "What is my 'one thing'?" What is the 'one thing' I cling to that shrinks heavens treasures while I walk this earth? My fear of pain. My love of comfort. My desire to get what I want when I want it. "LORD, is there really only 'one thing' I lack?" [...]
Good morning… I accidentally ran into a Bible verse I have never before met. This blessing is tucked away in Jude, the easily-missed, two-page book of the Bible appearing just before Revelation. This sentence sums up my deep prayer for each of us, as we tiptoe slowly into a brand new year. May mercy and peace and love be [...]
Good morning... As we walk away from what has been and step toward what will be, she sent me a beautiful prayer written by Leighton Ford, a mentor for emerging Christian leaders from across the globe. ****** Lord, give me I pray: A remembering heart for the things that have happened An attentive heart to what I have learned [...]
Good morning... In our final Listening Group of the semester, I intended to unwrap Chapter 3, but by "mistake" I read aloud excerpts from Chapter 4, a chapter entitled "God's Compassion for the Rebellious." I shared aloud these introductory words before we slowly read, reread, and reflected on the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11-24. "You [...]
Good morning... The image filling my mind has three parts: a single red rose bud in a simple vase, a clean kitchen counter, and an under cabinet beam of accent light. Today I wake late following an annual Christmas gathering with the vision of a rose resting on the counter, basking in warmth of cozy kitchen light. As I [...]
Good morning... I recently told this story off the top of my head, but it is much more meaningful when read from the book. "Connie's son started wearing an earring. She became annoyed and told her husband, 'I'm going to pray his ears bleed!' But as her prayers took on the contemplative tone of surrendering instead of managing and [...]
Good morning... She taught me her favorite "breath prayer," a centering word or a short phrase which can be said within a single breath. Inhaling deeply we request, "More of God." Exhaling fully we release, "Less of me." Slowly, methodically we breathe in then out, "More of God. Less of me." Again and again we request and release, "More [...]
Good morning... “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it," writes Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple from Putnam County, Georgia. Purple. Why does purple so ignite the passion of God? I google the meaning of purple and streamline a ton of fascinating facts. Purple combines the [...]
Good morning... "...the people who plant seeds of a movement make a critical decision: they decide to live 'divided no more,'" observes Parker Palmer in Let Your Life Speak, the book I will be teaching on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays next semester. "They decide no longer to act on the outside in a way that contradicts some truth about [...]
