Faith Is A Walk In The Dark
Good morning... "Sue, I’ve been so moved by your posts this week," wrote Dr. Cathy Snapp, dear friend and co-author of The Hidden Life Awakened. "This incredible meditation, from page 10, came to mind. Here are Betty Skinner's words straight from the book." ****** "For most of my life, I have been a seeker, searching and longing to live from a deeper place. On a rainy day many years ago, I stood silently [...]
Just Slow Down And Meet
Good morning... She wrote me a simple email yesterday: "iAmSon's 'Slow Down' song came to mind again, today, after your post. Enjoy!" I had never heard the song before, so searched for it on YouTube. It's quirky, with a choppy, methodic rhythm, the rhythm of bare feet slowly walking. I thoroughly enjoyed the lyrics and the music video, a video created one year ago this month, entitled "'Slow down', by iAmSon - images [...]
I Am Slowly Adapting
Good morning... After reading our blog post entitled Journeying With Cancer, a friend pulled out the words above. "This paragraph especially 'spoke' to me today," she wrote, "when I'm feeling frustrated with not being able to 'keep up' with my own expectations." Within the hour, another friend texted me the image below. "Good morning," she wrote. "I saw this and thought you might enjoy it." "Oh, [...]
Journeying With Cancer
Good morning... I received her email after I woke from my second sleep. "Dear Sue," she wrote yesterday. "This post (Give Kindness, Not Advice) really struck an accord in me. During my now four weeks of being a patient undergoing cancer treatment, I experience that some of my friends actually drain my energy by telling me how I strong I am and therefore I will be able to fight this disease. I know [...]
Give Kindness, Not Advice
Good morning... In class yesterday, we continued to unpack the concept of kindness, one of the fruits of God's Spirit alive in our hearts. We agreed, in the face of so much worldly unrest - polarization, violence, despair - there is one thing we all can do, each moment of every day. We can take a deep breath and tap into the Holy Spirit within, letting God grow in our lives the characteristics [...]
Amid The World’s Chaos
Good morning... "Sue," she texted yesterday. "It struck me in your speaking about kindness in this morning's blog - I wonder if you have seen the billboards with Dolly Parton. As I was driving back from the beach there was a horrendously congested intersection of construction - with long lines of cars and trucks - everyone doing their human thing - jumping in front and cutting others off - it was just chaos! [...]
Kindness Is A Ripple
Good morning... With so much strife and pain around, one of our superpowers is kindness. A small, kind act can ripple out to share the love of God. ...the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law [...]
A Chocolate Chip Cookie
Good morning... Last Monday in the PAWkids Afterschool Enrichment program, we had messy fun. Paints. Pie pans. Pieces of paper. The kids made imprints of different images. One girl, who happens to be Mike Mike's niece, lost her grandmother in an unsolved murder last month. She said, "I want to make a chocolate chip cookie. My grandma always made us chocolate chip cookies. I loved her cookies. I want to make a chocolate chip [...]
How Does Love Multiply?
Good morning... When the Holy Spirit in me meets the Holy Spirit in you, the love of God multiplies. But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness [...]
From Brutal To Butterflies
Good morning... As women came through our wooden side gate on Wednesday afternoon, we lingered in the warm sunshine. With a gentle breeze tickling the wind chimes, we collected beneath our back porch. For the first time this season, we held class on our outdoor furniture amid the symphony of the birds. Continuing to journey through our book, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, we discussed [...]
In The Face Of Deep Divides
Good morning... We began this semester studying one book, Wintering by Katharine May. To our surprise, we will end this semester studying a second book, Parker Palmer's new 25th anniversary edition of Let Your Life Speak. We did not plan this expansion into more, but the seamlessness of these oddly orange book covers, set side by side, offers a visual nod from God, "You, my friends, are following my lead." [...]