Good morning... I love to notice God's new gifts expanding in the heart of ordinary people. So I adore this email from my friend. ****** Dear Sue, I have been ruminating on your recent post, Infused With Peace. Since 2003, I have been scared of the word "infusion." To me it was something that hurt, that was scary, that might not [...]
Good morning... From Jacksonville, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia, one subscriber sent an interesting quote to comfort our community: "I remember reading this quote in Tullian Tchvidjian’s (Billy Graham’s grandson) book Glorious Ruin - 'The good news of suffering is that it brings us to the end of ourselves...brings us to the place of honesty, which is the place of desperation, which [...]
Good morning... To help the family gather pictures for her funeral reception, I went to my friend's condo last week. My heart was overjoyed to see an antique painting of fruit hanging on her bedroom wall. This handprinted original was a gift she had opened from me, by-chance, at our recent “Symbols of the Soul Gift Exchange," a final exchange [...]
Good morning… One of the beauties of our Everyday Blog is its interactive quality. As subscribers write me daily, we converse back and forth. In addition, when a subscriber unsubscribes, he or she can choose to let me know the reason why. One who unsubscribed this week wrote to me this message: “Honestly, recently (the last 9 months to [...]
Good morning... Mary, my soulmate from Charlotte, N.C. whom I have never met, wrote to me from the beach yesterday. Her words are perfect and poignant. ****** My life is Blessed…But My Son Is Dead?!?! How can it be? I am taking in the majesty of God’s Kingdom at the beach in the winter…the ocean with it’s vastness, rolling [...]
Good morning... Scary feelings. Scattered thoughts. Struggles strangle. We are overwhelmed. Too many needs. Too many options. Too many expectations. We are overwhelmed. Difficult decisions. Demanding deadlines. Depression descends. We are overwhelmed. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7, NIV). But God is invisible and God does not talk like us and God [...]
Good morning... I knew exactly what she meant: "I feel like I am tiptoeing on broken glass." When life shatters into shards, we tread tenderly with loved ones, fearing their pain, fearing ours, fearing bare and bloodied feet. Vulnerably inching into grief, the only way through is through. Sometimes shoes are necessary. Sometimes they are not. I knew exactly [...]
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... "Friendship is one of the greatest gifts a human being can receive," observes Henri Nouwen's morning meditation from 1.7.18. "It is a bond beyond common goals, common interests, or common histories. It is a bond stronger than sexual union can create, deeper than a shared fate can solidify, and even more intimate than the bonds of marriage [...]
Good morning... Today, I could write about football, yesterday's rainy day off school, or our daughter's safe return from Australia with her tattered, three-wheeled suitcase. This morning, I could write about our finicky coffee pot, this week's beginning of our new class semester, or the strengthening pull of God's call upon my life. Right now, I could write about [...]
