A Perfect Poem For Today
Good morning... "This poem plays beautifully with your post about radical empathy," she wrote. Remember? Radical empathy is "actively striving to better understand and share the feelings of others. To fundamentally change our perspectives from judgmental to accepting, in an attempt to more authentically connect with ourselves and others." I agree with my friend. This powerful poem plays beautifully with our post about connecting authentically with God, self, and others. ****** "The Place [...]
Inching Our Way Forward
Good morning... After a very significant phone conversation, she wrote me a thought-provoking text. "I just saw a photograph on Instagram this evening, the pain and the trauma expressed needs no fact checking," she wrote. "The image was a black woman holding a handwritten sign that read, 'We live in a world where trained cops can panic & act on impulse, but untrained civilians must remain calm with a gun in their face.'" [...]
Trudging Through A Valley
Good morning... "Amazing post!" she emailed after yesterday's message, With A Heavy And Thankful Heart. "I needed it!" "I’ve been trudging through the valley these past weeks," she admitted. "Dark, sad, powerless. It’s surely part of the awakening process but so not me. I’ve started the spiral of control again in my helpless attempt to save the train wreck & that has created more feelings of despair. So your post reminds me what [...]
With A Heavy And Thankful Heart
Good morning... "As I read devotions and pray, Riley soaks in God's shining light," texted a dear friend from the Friday morning class which used to meet in our living room before COVID. "What a beautifully peaceful picture!" I responded. "I love it. How is your heart feeling this morning?" "My heart is thankful for true friends and wonderful family who reflect God's love," she replied. "I am also grateful for hiking and [...]
When Love Wears Fur
Good morning... In yesterday's blog post, How To Avoid Burnout, together we witnessed the loving voice of God captured on my cell phone. As the day progressed, I was also able to witness the love of God caught wearing fur. My friend's year old puppy loves his momma dearly. To keep him company while she visited with her doctor, I brought our dog, Tate, to play with her dog, Tucket. As I prayerfully [...]
How To Avoid Burnout
Good morning... In the past fourteen hours, God's voice was captured on my phone again and again and again. I will share with you three random-seeming text strings, and you too will witness the LORD's loving presence at work among us. Text string Number One - 7:36 pm. "I have been noticing for the first time these big yellow balls all over the tree next to our gate," I texted a friend the [...]
Easter Every Day
Good morning... "Sue," he emailed me, "isn’t it wonderful that as Christians, it is Easter every day? Enjoy, dear friend!" And he sent me this incredible music video below. Now it is your turn, "Enjoy, dear friend!" Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the source of all life; those who believe in Me will live even in death. Everyone who lives and believes in Me will never truly die. Do you believe [...]
A Story From Steve
Good morning... "I was lounging on my couch on a beautiful Easter Sunday afternoon with the TV on, when the screen in front of me began to show one of the oldest and most beloved stories of our time," writes my husband Steve in his chaplain's devotional. "It was as much a part of my childhood as anything. Every year, once a year, my family would gather around and view this epic tale. [...]
Yield to Yield Abundantly
Good morning... One word sticks with me from this week's blog posts: yield. It strikes me that yield has a double meaning. The Free Dictionary tells us that to yield, on one hand, means to give up one's place to one who is superior, to surrender or to submit, to defer to or to concede. Day after day, we are designed to yield ourselves to the grace of God. On the other hand, to [...]
Seven Key Questions
Good morning... As I allowed the second COVID vaccine to settle into my body, I pulled out the 3 x 5 card my longtime friend gave me at our birthday season lunch. I quietly ground myself in these seven key questions to see what God grows. ****** 7 Questions to Journal About from NY Times article via Austin Kleon What's one thing you made this year? Did you have any bad ideas this [...]
Yield And Increase
Good morning... After yesterday's blog post, Claim This First Love, a dear friend sent me Richard Rohr's morning meditation for the same day, April 6th. It is as if Rohr is singing to us the next stanza in God's endless love song. ****** Love Revealed by Richard Rohr Julian of Norwich... teaches us that God’s love has nothing to do with rules and retribution and everything to do with mercy and compassion. She [...]
Claim This First Love
Good morning... "The spiritual life starts at the place where you can hear God’s voice," says the Henri Nouwen meditation from yesterday. "Where somehow you can claim that long before your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your school, your church touched you, loved you, and wounded you—long before that, you were held safe in an eternal embrace. You were seen with eyes of perfect love long before you entered into the [...]