Good morning... "The universe is wider than our view of it," reminds Henry David Thoreau. As my friend struggles to come to terms with a difficult diagnosis, she regularly takes time away to release her fear, her worry, her "What if?" Creating quiet spaces of waiting, wishing, wondering, my friend rests in widening pockets of God's enduring joy. [...]
Good morning... "Not good news," I was saddened by my friend's text. "The cancer is in her spine, hip, lymph nodes, base of her skull. I'm not sure where we go from here. Marleigh's spirits are good. I'm still taking it day by day. I fall apart when I get ahead of myself. I love you and am [...]
Good morning... After our therapeutic community group yesterday, I spent quality time with Larenzia Lawrence, the daughter of LaTonya Gates, who is the founder and director of PAWkids, a non-profit supporting the neediest families in downtown Atlanta. Larenzia and I are pictured above. Last Wednesday tragedy struck the family of Larenzia's childhood best friend as a fire ripped [...]
Good morning... I hold my heart wide open in prayer as I ponder with God the needs of many. I am held together through veins of prayer with loved ones throughout the world, a limitless gift with eternal benefits. "Sue, your prayers are invaluable to me," texted my friend's mom who is turning 90 this week. "I am [...]
Good morning... I got news this weekend of a cancer diagnosis in the families of two friends - one, a brave 36 year old daughter, and the other, a nearly 90 year old mother who is so dearly loved. Pondering the precarious balance between life and death, I am drawn to a poem I met a while back. [...]
Good morning... I revisited. I reworked. I reimagined yesterday's blog post. I revisited, reworked, reimagined with God for a very long time. (If you feel drawn, please check out the new version of The Fence Around My Heart). Then I opened up the Wednesday blessing from author Kate Bowler, a prayerful email waiting for my time and attention. [...]
Good morning... There is a woman I am having a really hard time with. We experience life very differently. As much as I see the green in a space, she sees the yellow. I love art, poetry, creative expression. She prefers facts, details, everything adding up rationally. I love the fun of finding fallen feathers. She doesn't like [...]
Good morning... "Gift from the Sea is a book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh first published in 1955," explains Wikipedia. "While on vacation on Florida's Captiva Island in the early 1950s, Lindbergh wrote the essay-style work by taking shells on the beach for inspiration and reflecting on the lives of Americans, particularly American women, in the mid-20th century. She [...]
Good morning... Almost flippantly, she said something really profound. I captured the Holy Spirit wisdom in my blank journal. "We try to add and add and add," she commented, "but God multiplies magically." Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot [...]
Good morning... "When you say, 'I believe in God,' what do you mean?" asked the final page of our assigned reading. I sketched my answer, this boat riding stick figure. The God I trust has three parts. God the Creator is like the ocean, endless water buoying me. God the living Christ surrounds me tangibly like a sturdy, [...]
