Good morning... On my back porch, I ate my lunch in the post-storm sunshine. A butterfly flew around the corner of our home and rested on the table right beside me. Watching me as I watched her, she inched closer and fanned her black wings, spotted with shimmering turquoise and gold. I was amazed as this bold, brave creature [...]
Good morning... Words I wrote last winter, pre-programmed again in May, and re-posted again this summer, minister to me now. "The definition of holiness–in a nutshell–means being set apart to purity, to be like God,” says blogger Shana Schutte. “And the result of holiness, of God transforming us to make us more like Him, is outrageous joy, amazing peace, [...]
Good morning... I sensed God concluding yesterday's message with this deep desire: "Connected to our Creator, I want me, the real me, and you, the real you, to mature into the unique people God is coaxing us to be." This concept had expanded from an vivid picture of the lasting mother/child bond painted on Mother's Day morn to a [...]
Good morning... The joy and pain of being a writer is an incessant obsession with choosing the perfect word. It is hard for my mind to rest when my soul continues to wonder, "What changes might make my final tweet truer, better, more impactful?" So it did not surprise me that after yesterday's post, I spent some time pondering, [...]
Good morning... We self-published our first book in 2004, my artist friend and me. Our book, Scribbling a Masterpiece: Doodle to Your Destiny, took a poem I had written when I was in my twenties and married it with her colorfully creative drawings, drawings which captured the essence of God's truth. On the back of our book, we shared [...]
Good morning... I had heard the phrase before, but I chuckled when she said it in a casual conversation. "Don't 'should' on yourself." I "should" do this. I "should" not do that. I "should" say this. I "should" not say that. I "should" think this. I "should' not think that. We "should" on ourselves all the time. Other people [...]
Good morning... In seven short Bible verses, we move from the freedom of our true self, Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame, (Genesis 2:25) to the covering of our false self, Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and [...]
Good morning... When we are afraid we begin to draw lines. "Us or them." "In or out." "Bad or good." Our lines litter our own comfort zone, shutting out others, "No. No. No." The very first female did the exact same thing. We pick up Eve's story in Genesis 3:1-3. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of [...]
Good morning... "All great spirituality teaches about letting go of what you don’t need and who you are not," says Richard Rohr, American Franciscan friar who is a beloved, prolific writer. "Then, when you can get little enough and naked enough and poor enough, you’ll find that the little place where you really are is ironically more than enough [...]
Talking after class, we stumbled upon God’s peace-making wisdom: "Comparison kills. Conversation brings life." Often we catch ourselves comparing, beating ourselves up for not being "good enough" or seeing ourselves as "somehow superior." Might this be the perfect time for our brain to tell our heart, “Raise your white flag?” In times of combat, the white flag is recognized [...]
