Good morning... Through the words of Henri Nouwen in his 3.19.16 daily meditation, it feels like God is sitting right in the midst of our confused, heartbroken community, answering a question burdening our minds and hearts. We are struggling to make sense of the shocking deaths of three well loved people in the past three weeks, a mom of [...]

Good morning... One song ran through my mind repeatedly yesterday as my heart was prayerfully focused on those hurting tremendously in our community. The song filling my being all day long was the song we used to sing to our children every night as we tucked them into bed after a story and a prayer. Through nightly repetition, this [...]

Good morning... Rubbed thin. That is how many of us feel right now. Rubbed thin from incomprehensible tragedy. Rubbed thin from a plethora of needs jockeying for our time and attention. Rubbed thin from jumbled up emotions we can not put into words. We who feel rubbed thin are ones who have taken the "often amazing, sometimes awful" risk [...]

Good morning... Reading the obituary of a boy my daughter's age is sobering. A junior at a nearby high school, his list of accolades are long and life-affirming. A three sport athlete. A well respected Eagle scout. A young man with a heart for the underprivileged in our community. An active member of a local church, a special place [...]

Good morning... The two places where we have absolutely no control are "yesterdays" and "tomorrows." We can not erase anything from the crowded chalkboard of "yesterdays." We can not scribble ahead to gain understanding from the blank slate of "tomorrows." Today we do not control, but today we can influence. With our attitude. With our gratitude. With our keen [...]

Good morning... Last week, my "solidarity headache" (see my 3.1.16 post, "I have a headache.") morphed into an ear ache and sore throat, then a cough and chest congestion, before I had the full blown virus so many have been battling this season. At the height of my cruddy sickness, I was reminded of a scary childhood memory. As [...]

Good morning... My journal defined more of my twenty-five year old self on 5.1.88. I wrote: "The process of continued growth leads to outgrowing certain people, certain places, certain beliefs as time passes. There is sadness in outgrowing. It means I can never go back and fit into the old shell in the same way again. The shell that [...]

Good morning... Waiting in a long line at the Denver airport, waiting, waiting, waiting to board our flight home, I was struck by the fact that no two people look alike. As we zig-zagged back and forth, back and forth, through the roped off security lines, I noticed people of different ages, different builds, different nationalities. People with long [...]

Good morning... As soon as we exited the Atlanta airport following our spring break trip, I was awed by the vibrant variety of fresh spring flowers. Joining the perked up pansies who have lived through winter, the tulips have lifted their delicate faces to the sun, and the daffodils have burst forth, standing strong. After dropping my suitcase in [...]

Good morning... "Many human relationships are like the interlocking fingers of two hands," says Henri Nouwen in his 3.5.16 morning meditation. "Our loneliness makes us cling to each other, and this mutual clinging makes us suffer immensely because it does not take our loneliness away. But the harder we try, the more desperate we become. Many of these 'interlocking' [...]