Good morning... Sitting with two of his three siblings, I witnessed our youngest son get his high school diploma. Hidden beneath my mask, can you envision my proud-momma smile? It was certainly a memorable, one-of-a-kind celebration. Outside in the football stadium. Social distanced, wearing masks. 80% chance of rain earlier in the week turned to delightfully cloudy with [...]
Good morning... As we wake on the final Sunday of July 2020, our minds meander toward fall. Masks. Social distancing. Balancing our need for safety with our craving for human contact. This will be an audacious autumn. In the shadow of a growing death toll, we are made keenly aware: "Life is short." Will we do stuff that [...]
Good morning... When I think of a lamb, I think of this sketch. I received a copy of this print after one of our four miscarriages. Instinctively I knew that the soul of the little being inside me had been scooped up and embraced by the loving care of our Lord. What do you notice about this simple [...]
Good morning... She prayed over me as we finished our monthly spiritual direction phone call, and her words landed in my open journal: "LORD, these mixed emotions are so tender. There is so much wrapped up in the place where Sue is sitting. We know You are a resurrection God. We don't know what will be resurrected from the [...]
Good morning... "Everything that could go wrong yesterday did," she emailed me, "and this morning didn't start off any better. I felt totally abandoned by God, even though I know He tells us, 'I will never leave or forsake you.'" She was right, God has promises repeatedly, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." The Lord himself [...]
Good morning... I looked more closely at the intricate nest. Sticks. Leaves. Dried grass. I noticed that the floor of the nest was made out of one large piece of light colored bark, bark I had recently seen shedding from unusually looking trees. Three-in-one trees. One-in-three trees. Growing forever from the same stable root, I fondly nickname these [...]
Good morning... So so so many of you reached out to ask, "Where did you get your COVID test done?" So, I figured I would do an informative post about what to do if and when you or a family member want to get tested for coronavirus. First off, our family of six has had a lot of [...]
Good morning... As I wake on Day #7, still self-quarantining in our basement, I think, "And this type of COVID testing was designed to produce results in two days." We easily got a testing appointment with our doctor friend last Thursday, we waited in line for about thirty minutes to experience the uncomfortable procedure, and we were told [...]
Good morning... When I woke yesterday, I re-read our life-giving post, To My Surprise. Again, I thoroughly enjoyed the photos of the beach, the rainbow, and the nest of baby cardinals being protected and nourished by their father. A few minutes later, I checked out the headline news on my phone, and I was heartbroken by the July [...]
Good morning... "On one level, shut-ins allow ordinary people to approximate the experience of 'cloistering,'" our blog post said the morning I unexpectedly woke with achy symptoms (see our post A Cold Or COVID?). "But on another level, shut-ins focus the attention of the community on tarrying. Although prayers can be as diverse as those who utter them, [...]
