We’ve Been To The Bottom
Good morning... I have a dear friend who sends me wise quotes. During this time of great grief, she sent me two sacred sentences, filled with grace and tender with truth. She texted, "I think of a Stephen Curtis Chapman quote when they lost their daughter: 'We have been to the bottom and have found it to be solid.'" She added with hope, "The Lord redeems what He allows." In these quiet moments, [...]
We Are Tired And Thirsty
"Good morning," she texted yesterday. "A little tired today," she continued. "Heartbroken for the families and community in Uvalde, Texas. Thinking about people like Steve (my husband, a chaplain) who are there - and everywhere - comforting families and friends reconciling loss, preparing words for services, walking in for visits." "This morning I am deep into Kate Bowler's outstanding book _No Cure for Being Human (And Other Truths I Need to Hear)," my [...]
Innocent Victims Like Us
Good morning... With last weekend's wedding in Charleston, S.C., my friend and I enjoyed sight-seeing through the southern city. The history of our pain, our progress, and our potential as a nation comes to life on every street. We reverently visited the church where 9 people were killed by a gunman while gathering for Bible study on June 17th, 2015. I noticed nine shells laying in honor of the slain victims. [...]
Today Is A Big Day
Good morning... Following last week's widely discussed post, We Differ Politically, one loyal subscriber sent me a copy of a speech presented in 1944. Highly respected Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961) shared keen words of wisdom during the "I am an American Day" celebrations. "The fifth paragraph blows me away," our regular reader wrote. Pondering the grounding wisdom, I too was blown away by the following paragraph. "What then is the spirit of liberty?" [...]
Steve’s 35th Anniversary Gift
Good morning... A few weeks back, I went to an art class led by a friend who is also a spiritual director. We were asked to bring along photos to incorporate into a collage. After an opening prayer, she slowly read aloud Psalm 139:13-16 from the Message translation, centering our attention and inviting us to choose words or phases to include in our personalized creations. Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then [...]
We Differ Politically
Good morning... Her email came in soon after I pushed "send" on yesterday's post, What Are We Becoming? She is a dear friend who has educated herself well about politics over the years. Her political beliefs differ considerably from the political beliefs God is growing in me. I believe that for God's eternal purposes my wise friend and I are planted in very different patches of the political spectrum. Just like in a [...]
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 [...]