Good morning... In the earth's Northern hemisphere, tonight is the winter solstice, also called the hibernal solstice. The winter solstice is the day with the shortest period of daylight and longest night of the year. At dawn, we will wake up into the first official day of winter. I happen upon a poem to shed light on this [...]
Good morning... I did stuff I shouldn't have done. I didn't do everything I should have. I'm up tonight, obsessing about "things I've done and things I've left undone." This phrase - "things I've done and things I've left undone" - this phrase shaped my mind as a child as, by rote, I recited it each Sunday as [...]
Good morning... How wonderful it was to receive an email yesterday from my friend Kitty Crenshaw, co-author of the book The Hidden Life Awakened, creator and keeper of the website hosting the wisdom of Christian mystic Betty Skinner. Since the spring of 2007, my life has been intimately shaped by Betty's uphill climb through the valley of debilitating [...]
Good morning... My 86 year old mom has endured a series of falls, several surgeries, and nearly three years of slow recovery. One thing she loves is cards, cards that make her laugh. Freely displaying these clever treasures all around their villa, she is surrounded by tangible symbols of the lasting love of family and friends. This is [...]
Good morning... With my parents in the performance of the Holiday Choir at their senior living community, this was a good long weekend to come to Ohio for a visit. Sunday was a full day. Church. Kiwanis pancake breakfast with Santa and our extended family. Creating their Christmas card. Getting out ornaments for their live tree. Quality time [...]
Good morning... Like light seeping into the chilly winter dark, God finds a way to find us where we are. "Sue," a friend wrote, "I too have been drawn to Bonhoeffer in the last week. His little book, God Is In the Manger, has some of his Christmas sermons." Then she shared a portion of Bonheoffer’s Christmas letter [...]
Good morning... Yesterday my friend and I went to see the movie Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor, a theologian, and an anti-Nazi dissident who was executed by the Nazis in 1945 just two weeks before the war ended. Chronicled in his many books and expressed in his heroic actions, Bonhoeffer's life of faith was extraordinary. [...]
Good morning... I'm not very good at big parties, since small talk is not my forte. So when my old friend's annual Christmas cookie party rolls around, I walk in through the familiar back door with internal questions swirling. "Who will I talk with?" "Will I anxiety-eat too much?" "Might I just drink sparkling water?" Last night began [...]
Good morning... When we met for our class Christmas lunch and our final discussion of Choose Joy by Kay Warren, one friend read aloud a thought-provoking poem. ***** I Asked God by Claudia Minden Weisz I asked God to take away my pride, And God said, “No.” He said it was not for Him to take it away, [...]
Good morning... Refocusing my scattered attention, a friend sent me his favorite Christmas poems. Here is one for us to enjoy today, accompanied by the wisdom of Scripture, amplified with an uplifting song. ****** I Will Light Candles from The Mood of Christmas by Howard Thurman I will light Candles this Christmas, Candles of joy despite all the sadness, [...]
