Don’t Waste Good Wine
Good morning... I woke this morning with a verse saturating my mind. I got out of bed, went to my Bible, and searched for the verse. Here's what I found. "No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the [fermenting] wine will [expand and] burst the skins, and the wine is lost as well as the wineskins. But new wine must be put into new wineskins," warns Jesus in Mark 2:22 (AMP). God, [...]
This Is A God-Thing
Good morning... The sun rises on the first day of our interactive, online study of Anne Morrow Lindbergh's 1955 classic Gift from the Sea. This companion study includes book excerpts recorded from the beach, Scriptures, music videos, and questions to ponder. I just checked our class roster and sixty-three women have signed up to join us on this God-inspired adventure. Sixty-three women from Atlanta and other Georgia towns, Florida and Ohio, Connecticut and Canada. Sixty-three [...]
“I Love Church Like This!”
Good morning... She was walking into our neighborhood as I was driving out. I had not seen this friend, a long-time church member, for a very long time. So, I stopped, rolled down my window, and enjoyed our brief conversation. "I love church like this!" she said, referring to our COVID-style church of online worship, daily devotionals, and out-of-the-box learning and serving opportunities. This usually quiet, very grounded, black-haired introvert went on to [...]
Are We Colorblind?
Good morning... "I don't see color," a long-time friend said over dinner the other night. I think she meant, "I take people as they are. I don't judge any person by the color of their skin. My diverse relationships are more than skin-deep." Growing up, when we said, "I don't see color," we thought we were being non-judgmental, accepting to all, open to friendship regardless of race. Yet, from the reading and the [...]
September 11th, 2001 and 2020
Good morning... This spring, amid the Corona mayhem, we received a large manilla envelop addressed to me. I looked inside to find a stack of letters wearing my handwriting, letters I had written from our new home in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania reaching out to my long long time friend in Mableton, Georgia. The first letter in the pile was dated 9/17/01. ****** Dear Laura... Tomorrow we will both wake up and recognize right [...]
Creating Peaceful Patterns
Good morning... "Nature, at a glance, is random and chaotic," my artist friend Corinne Adams wrote in her email. "Yet underlying this apparently disordered and complex system are intricate patterns, interconnected relationships, bold repetitions and a system of self-organization." "I am called into nature," she explains, "first, to observe what is there and to invite it to speak to me in form, texture, color and spirit. My practice is meditational as [...]
First Time In Fifteen Years
Good morning... One mid summer night in 2005, God startled me awake: "Host a Bible study in your home." I recently pulled out the manuscript which chronicles my formation as a writer, a teacher, a daily God-listener. We now pick up the story after our life-changing move from a tiny town in Pennsylvania to the bustling city of Atlanta, Georgia. ****** Excerpt from God Speaks Through Us: Hear, Obey, and Share the Voice of [...]
From Bad To Greater Good
Good morning... As our website crashed this week, I anxiously worried, "That's bad!" Then, just like in one of our kids' favorite books, my initial "That's bad!" surprisingly morphed into "That's good!" Let me tell you the story. In this delightful yellow book, a little boy has a comical series of mishaps as his visit to the zoo turns into a high-flying adventure. A shiny red balloon carries him into unexpected [...]
Broken And Whole
Good morning... "Good morning, Sue," she texted today at 8:03 am. "This is the second morning your wonderful blog posts have a funky format and are not opening. Anyone else mention that?" God and I have been working on a computer issue with our web designer for the past thirty-six hours. Something with a server. Something with a glitch. Something with something I know nothing about. So no blog post yesterday. No blog [...]
The Gift Of Instability
Good morning... I recently ran across an old Youtube video of me teaching a living room full of ladies about transformation, metamorphosis, and being strengthened by God from the inside out. (Below you can see for yourself my taped introduction of our book, Scared To Soar? ) I chuckle at myself on video, seeing my banged hair with less grey, noticing my uncomfortable smile sharing an imperfect monologue, and cherishing the faces symbolic of [...]
Settle By The Sea
Good morning... "Sue, I’m pretty sure you get these Henri Nouwen meditations," she emailed me yesterday, "but this one is really beautiful to me and I want to make sure you see it. Also, we need prayer for a six year old boy that is the son of our daughter's close friend. This little boy has a really bad cancer in his leg. The journey started this week for the family. Please pray for [...]
Hanging On By A Thread
Good morning... Pictured above is a framed print I recently brought home from a fascinating yard sale. Somehow it feels like a self-portrait of me looking into the mirror of our multifaceted God, the living body of Christ. The thread running through the colorful minds of these partial people reminds me of the rich tapestry of healing love woven within and among us. Belonging in God's mysterious mosaic, we are all knit together [...]