We Can’t See The Road Ahead
Good morning... "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going," she read a Thomas Merton quote over the phone to end our monthly Julie's Dream prayer meeting. "I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not actually mean I am doing [...]
Cancer Gives Life?
Good morning... "For me, the word cancer is interchangeable with the word life," a wise, wise woman taught her daughter before leaving earth for heaven. This daughter happens to be one my good friends. Since today, February 4th, is World Cancer Day, I reached out to my friend to further unwrap the gift of her mom's unusual statement. "For her, cancer was another word for life, because her diagnosis made her deeply aware [...]
Get GUIDANCE
Good morning... "...refreshing to find this in our bed n breakfast information book in Cedar Key, Florida...this evening...so sweet," a loyal subscriber wrote me last night. ****** DANCING WITH GOD When I meditated on the word GUIDANCE, I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word. I remember reading that doing God’s will is a lot like dancing. When two people try to lead, nothing feels right. The movement doesn’t flow with [...]
What Are We Truly About?
Good morning... "Spiritual reading is not only reading about spiritual people or spiritual things," I quietly read Henri Nouwen's insights aloud to our Zoom class. "It is also reading spiritually, that is, in a spiritual way! Reading in a spiritual way is reading with a desire to let God come closer to us." "The purpose of spiritual reading . . . is not to master knowledge or information but to let God’s Spirit [...]
Nothing Is Unimportant
Good morning... The drunk, the hunk, the chunk, and the monk, we are all in the process of being converted by God, from selfishness to servanthood, from dogmatic answers to life-giving questions, from "Why me?" to "Here I am, Lord, send me." True conversion involves a change of attitude, emotion, and viewpoint from one of disbelief, indifference, and antagonism to one of faith, acceptance, and transformation. The old dies, the new blossoms. "The [...]
We Walk With Our Shadow
Good morning... We deepen down into the statement, "When we emerge from this global pandemic, we will be either a drunk, a hunk, a chunk or a monk!" Do we see the two-sided invitation of each temporary state? The drunk may be driven to surrender, craving an intimate connection to our Higher Power. The hunk may get caught up in the vicious cycle of comparing and competing before pride leads to a fall. [...]
A Drunk, A Hunk, A Chunk Or A Monk?
Good morning... I have heard it said, "When we emerge from this global pandemic, we will be either a drunk, a hunk, a chunk or a monk!" This extended period of social isolation has held us long enough for our true colors to begin coming out in the mirror. What might we see if we looked at the truth? A DRUNK - To take the edge off of the stress and the worry, [...]
Deciding To Quit
Good morning... Many of you have shared with me fun photos of the light of the Lord filling your homes, and, drenched with multi-faceted meaning, the photo above felt like a gift to share. This ethereal image, light, airy, tenuous, came with a text: "Light of the Lord at my house this AM leading me out of my comfort zone. Zoom in on the piece of art I bought years ago when I [...]
The Gift Of Shattered Glass
Good morning... "Good morning, Sue," a woman wrote after yesterday's post Cupid Dreams Big, a post highlighting beautiful gifts formed from brokenness. She went on to share this story. "Many years ago we found ourselves together at a retreat at the Ignatius House," she recalled. "I was a mother deep in grief from the recent loss of my young adult son. You knew my story from a web of common friends and my [...]
Cupid Dreams Big
Good morning... "Parked at a local church, I found my car window shattered," remembers my dear friend Corinne Adams. "I was distraught…until I saw the beauty of the broken glass. I knew I had to take it home. Slowly and surely, the little glass nuggets made their way into cuffs, pendants, belt buckles, rings and earrings. These unique pieces of jewelry remind me that blessings come in strange packages — that pain is [...]
Together Let’s Wake Up Whole
Good morning... Yesterday I did something new, something way out of my cozy box, something I had never, ever done before. I began teaching my first Winter/Spring class by Zoom. I know I seem like an old-fogey, behind the times, out of date, but I have felt my spirit totally resisting this unnatural method of learning for as long as possible. As a down-to-the-earth, verbally processing, creative collaborator wired with a hint of [...]
Some Gifts Keep Giving
Good morning... You may remember this cool painting from last month's post entitled Steve's Birthday Surprise. On a whim, to benefit Blue Skies Ministries, I bought a fun mixed-media painting by Christy Holmes at my friend's pop-up Christmas shop, a surprise birthday purchase for my husband to honor Steve's call from God twenty-six years ago to minister to this hustling and bustling Atlanta community. After a sleepless night, tossing and turning, worrying I [...]