Good morning... Yesterday morning, I made a mistake. I dated our blog post January 11, 2023. Not 2024. I would have missed the error, except that I pushed the "Previous" button at the top of the page and this is the old message that promptly popped up. _______________________________________________________ I Want That [...]
Good morning... I am not sure how I missed it, but this poem came into my email on New Year's Day. Maybe I did not have the time, the margin, the courage to consider these key questions then. Now seems like the perfect moment for me to ponder this powerful poem. Are you open to joining me, friend? [...]
Good morning... Twenty-nine years ago today, on January 6th, I gave birth to a five pound fifteen ounce little boy, three days past his due date. Look at him now. He's faithful, he's grounded, he's newly married to a Spirit-filled, gentle woman. How fun it is to see a single seed of God growing up into its own [...]
Good morning... A peaceful saying lives on this purple journal. "Nature does not hurry and yet everything is accomplished," Lao Tzu wisely notices. Now I am drawn to change one letter. "Nature does not worry and yet everything is accomplished." Worrying does not do any good; who here can claim to add even an hour to his life [...]
Good morning... With me taking a Sabbath rest from writing each Sunday, this is our final blog post for 2023. I feel drawn to pass along the encouragement a friend shared with me. In the midst of her journey with breast cancer, she wrote, "Yesterday I read the whole book Chris Beats Cancer by Chris Wark. It was [...]
Good morning... "I am feeling the magic of just being with, fully present," I email a friend whose father passed away this year. This week I am hanging out with my dad in Ohio as we support my mom, who is slowly recovering in the hospital from a life-threatening infection. "Keeping quiet. Letting things unfold. Trusting God with [...]
Good morning... Last week at their senior living community, my dad performed the role of "Tommy-O, the elf" and my mom was his happy sidekick. What a fun photo! This week, my mom is recovering in a hospital room near my hometown of Berea, Ohio. On Christmas Eve, she was not herself, exhausted and lethargic. The ambulance came [...]
Good morning... If we were to send out a Christmas card this year, we would likely share this sweet family photo from the September day our son Kyler married his amazing wife Chandler. What you would not see is the bitter of the hurricane sweeping through Charleston, S.C. two days before, or the bitter of my parents missing [...]
Good morning... Amid the traffic and the long lines snaking through every store, I am convicted once again, "Sometimes less is more." Less worry. Less rushing. Less anger. Less impressing. Less "My way or the highway." God, what might it mean for me to live this day really trusting that less is more? Trust in your money and [...]
Good morning... I love hanging up Christmas cards from people we have made memories with over the years. One of my favorites from this season is the smiling faces of the DeShelter family, a close-knit family who has recently endured two rounds of Audrey's risky radioactive cancer treatment at Children's Healthcare of Philadelphia. Thriving through it all, don't [...]
