What Are We Becoming?
Good morning... We are transformed by our life-giving choice to spend at least 10 Minutes Each Day developing our conversational relationship with God. Focusing our full attention on who Christ is and how Christ loves us nurtures our true identity as a child of God. Ten minutes each day, we can do that. As I was deleting old emails yesterday, I came across a devotional message I had skipped over the morning it [...]
10 Minutes Each Day
Good morning... Many of you loved yesterday's post, Steve's Sermon On Saturday, words given by my husband to graduating high school seniors. He spoke of The Great Forgetting, our naturally human tendency to forget important things as we move forward in life. He challenged us to become people who actively remember. "...for remembering who God has created you to be – for remembering God’s promises to you when life gets tough – for [...]
Steve’s Sermon On Saturday
Good morning... "It's hard to believe that we were holding a prayer vigil outside of the hospital for Dobbs at this time last week," said one mom I talked with after Saturday's baccalaureate service. The Davie family, friends of so many of us from our Lovett community, lost twenty year old Dobbs the next morning on Mother's Day. "I have listened to Steve speak three times during this really difficult week," she continued, [...]
Final Words From A Mother
Good morning... Every spring I love the baccalaureate service hosted on the fertile soil of the Lovett School, a farewell communion ceremony for graduating seniors and their families. As head chaplain, my husband Steve invites a parent to speak who is graduating their last child. This year's meaningful message was given by Lauren Gearon, graceful mother of three grads. In congratulating Lauren after the special service, I asked if she might share with [...]
Our Conversational Relationship
Good morning... In the early hours of last Saturday, I wrote My Hope For These Twenty Year Olds. I pushed "send" on our blog post around 3:00 am then crawled back into bed for my second sleep. When I woke again, I revisiting our message, tweaking it a bit, like I often do. I did not alter the Scripture verse: God, investigate my life; get all the facts firsthand. I’m an open book [...]
My Hope For These 20 Year Olds
Good morning... As our son and a full row of twenty-year-old friends watched their classmates paying tribute at their best friend's funeral, I wondered to myself, "Lord, in what ways is your Spirit sinking into their hearts? How are you helping these young adults to process this unexpected loss? Somehow, some way, is your comforting presence becoming more real to each of them?" Now up in the middle of the night, this grieving [...]
One Meaningful Funeral
Good morning... Stuck in the really long line of cars trailing into the parking garage at Buckhead Church, I sensed how sobering it was for so many in our community to be attending the funeral of Dobbs Davie, a well loved twenty year old. I slipped into a chair in the back section of the large church so that I could take it all in, taking in all of the bittersweet. A pastor [...]
Grieving The Loss of Dobbs
Good morning... I wake early on this difficult day, preparing my heart for this morning's funeral. In the sacred stillness of these wee hours, I savor the obituary of Dobbs Davie. Crossing over to heaven on Mother's Day, Dobbs was just twenty years old. I look at his handsome picture and can see remnants of the little boy who played youth football with our youngest son, Jeremiah. Our families made great memories together [...]
Vote With Peace
Good morning... My twenty-three year old daughter laughed at me recently, "Mom, why are you getting so into this vote thing?" This "vote thing" on May 24th will determine whether our village of Vinings, Georgia becomes a city. Last month, I went to a gathering held by Cobb County leaders discussing our decision. Last week, I went to a large gathering to listen and learn with the "Vote Yes" representatives. Last night, I [...]
What Matters Forever Is Safe
Good morning... "Though the cherry trees don't blossom (Habakkuk 3:17, MSG); though the bank account, the bed, the chair, and the calendar are empty; though the grave dirt may be heaped; and though the lungs ache with the weight of breathing through the drowning waves, in Christ what matters forever is always forever safe," explains the Ann Voskamp quote sent to me yesterday by a friend. What matters forever is always forever safe. What [...]
From This Side Of The Veil
Good morning... On Thursday I held hands and exchanged words with a friend who had cancer in the lining of her stomach. Before I left her peaceful home, her only son shared, "I think she has about two more weeks." Two days later, I received the text saying she had died. Our wise, gentle friend celebrated this Mother's Day in heaven with her daughter, who died years ago in a tragic car accident, [...]
This Bittersweet Mother’s Day
Good morning... I am deeply touched by the bittersweet nature of Mother's Day this year. I feel the sweetness of my mom coming back to life after being on a ventilator in the Ohio ICU. Wow, what a joy to celebrate! I also feel the bitter of old friends, a mom and a grandmother, with whom I am diligently praying that their son, who graduated from high school with our twenty-year old, will [...]