Peace Transcends
Good morning... A seventy year old blog subscriber from southwest Washington state recently sent me this magnet with a kind note. "Don't tell God how BIG your storm is, tell the storm how BIG your GOD is." I have lived with this small gift and loved it immensely, and at the same time I have sensed three things happening. First, I have grown to learn that, for me, this statement is not an [...]
Today’s Vote In Georgia
Good morning... With an influential runoff election, today is a big day in our state of Georgia. Yesterday in my church email, I received this message from a person in an organization called the Georgia Citizens for Trump. "Hi Sue," said the mass email, "President Trump just declared the Georgia January 5th runoff as illegal and invalid. Instead of wasting time voting since it may be rigged, key supporters plan to win by [...]
Let’s Learn Together
Good morning... One thing I love most about being the Women's Ministry Director at Northside Church in Atlanta, Georgia is creatively learning about God with a variety of women. Semester-by-semester, collaborative learning feeds our souls and transforms us gradually into the likeness of the living Christ. Now is the time to sign up for our 2021 Winter/Spring classes. Might you touch on the link below, browse our lineup of classes, and register for [...]
Things Always Break
Good morning... This Christmas season we pared down to essentials. Immediate family. A handful of favorite ornaments on our ten foot fresh tree. And one nativity, this tiny nativity brought home from a late November yard sale. Because we were living lighter, we were able to spontaneously adjust when generous friends offered us a getaway to their mountain home on Christmas Eve. On the spur of the moment, we wrapped up and loaded [...]
Where Are You?
Good morning... As vulnerable babies, we are born in relationship, born into the experience of Genesis 2:25: In those days the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (VOICE). Then our innate self centeredness elbows others out of the way. Our "Me. Mine. I." begin to run our show. We devour what is not generously given to us, then, riddled with guilt, we hide away. The awareness of Genesis [...]
I Don’t Want 2020 To End
Good morning... "I really don't want 2020 to end," she said quietly as we talked in her garage, protected from the drizzly rain. "2020 will always be the last year my husband was alive." Her deep sorrow is not alone. For many of us, 2020 is the last year our spouse or our parent, our friend or our sibling, our child or our coworker will ever be alive on earth. The Spirit now [...]
As The Sun Sets On 2020
Good morning... As the sun sets on 2020, we see more clearly the single purpose for which we are born. With all of this year's chaos and clashing, death and disconnection, unrest and uncertainty, our single purpose rests firmly in focus. Henri Nouwen said it well in a post from this week. ****** Henri Nouwen DAILY MEDITATION | DECEMBER 29, 2020: Born to Reconcile If you dare to believe that you are beloved [...]
The Man And The Birds
Good morning... I happened upon this YouTube retelling of a story I remember from childhood. When Paul Harvey recorded these words in 1965, I was just two years old. Now listening again, I understand more deeply why Jesus was born into our world as a baby, just like you and me. It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of [...]
Earth Teach Me Quiet
Good morning... "I found it uncanny...after reading your devotional, this article was in the N.Y. Times..." she wrote after yesterday's post, My Prayers For The Church. "So obviously God is in tune with these thoughts and quietly teaching all of us... enjoy!" ****** Eriks Esenvalds: ‘Earth Teach Me Quiet’ Earlier this year, when singing together became just about the most dangerous thing you could do, Donald Nally, the magus behind the Crossing, our finest [...]
My Prayers For The Church
Good morning... "Merry Christmas," she wrote after yesterday's post, A Nifty Poem. "I love this poem. Our special retreat in Blue Ridge is like an outdoor church for me with a beautiful open field and surrounding woods. I love to take long quiet walks. I can listen to the Bobolink and his bird friends sing their songs and absorb God’s beauty. My 'Dome' are the trees and the glimpses of the mountain tops. [...]
A Nifty Poem
Good morning... The subject line in his email read, "A Nifty Poem." Opening the gift this Sunday morning after Christmas 2020, I was invited outside the box with God. "I've never seen that poem before," he wrote, "and yes it is quite appropriate for now. You know, we were talking about this recently, that I've gone to church my entire life. Rarely missing a Sunday - I mean - rarely - It's been [...]
Light Dawns In Our Darkness
Good morning... As I pulled out my phone's camera to snap a photo of the rising sun, I thought, "How do we response to the dawning of light?" We can't stop it or deny it or contain it for ourselves. We can only notice it. Admire it. Expect it. Reflect it. Appreciate it. Hope for it. Bask in it. Walk by it. Be warmed with it. Grow strong in the glow of light's [...]