One Tender Tribute
Good morning... "As we head into the Memorial Day weekend, let us reflect on the tremendous price that was paid by the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country," says the post accompanying this tender YouTube video paying tribute. "Through the sounding of Taps, members of The United States Air Force Band solemnly render honor to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for their country. A long-held [...]
Our 33rd Anniversary
Good morning... Thirty-three years ago today, I walked down the wedding aisle with my dad. Then I walked back up the same aisle married to Steve Allen. I don't think there is any other choice in my lifetime that has paid off such deep, divine dividends. I just finished my annual journey through the pages of Gift From The Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, written in 1955 and very powerfully poignant for each [...]
All Doors Open
Good morning... I am prayerfully considering which book to teach in our living room next fall, in small groups, sitting six feet apart. With a short stack of possibilities, I read through piles of pages. At the right moment, I trust the Holy Spirit to nudge, "Sue, this is the one I have chosen." "When the sun goes down," writes Barbara Brown Taylor in Learning to Walk In the Dark, one book I [...]
C.S. Lewis Said
Good morning... "The following is from C. S. Lewis," wrote a very special friend. "It was written in 1948 after the dawn of the atomic age." ****** Mr. Lewis wrote: In one way we think a great deal too much of the atomic bomb. “How are we to live in an atomic age?” I am tempted to reply: “Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London [...]
Living In Limbo
Good morning... It feels like we are living in limbo. That's an interesting word. Limbo is a state of oblivion, an intermediate, transitional, or midway state or place, a place or state of confinement. Nothingness. Nowhere. Left field. Out there. As kids, we used to play the game of limbo, shimmying beneath a bar without touching the ground, a bar that was dropped down incrementally, lower and lower, round after round. The question was always, "How [...]
Dealing With Our Dirt
Good morning... "There is a dead weight of accumulation," Anne Morrow Lindbergh admits in Gift From The Sea, "a coating of false values, habits and burdens which blight life. It is this smothering coat that needs constantly to be stripped off, in life as well as in relationships" (58). Dead weight. Accumulation. Coating of falseness - values, habits, burdens. A smothering coat in need of stripping. At week nine of this work-from-home weirdness, [...]
Amid Life’s Noise
Good morning... A deep truth dawns. I must sense God's Spirit in the silence to notice God's guiding presence amid life's noise. Before leaving this wild, wild world to return to the full presence of our Father, Jesus promised us a gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit. He said, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he [...]
I Hate To Disappoint
Good morning... I hate to disappoint people. I lose sleep over perceived mistakes. I feel most at peace when those around me are at peace. I am only as happy as my most unhappy loved one. Is this some personalized form of co-dependency, God? Why do I attach my cart to the perception of people instead of securely anchoring my whole self to You? This attachment issue I see in myself is not [...]
Celebrate In Spirit
Good morning... "This is our graduation room/table for today," she graciously wrote, trying to salvage and share a special sense of celebration during this strange season of pandemic-stricken Plan B's. "I thought I would share these pictures, because through your blog you sent the 'blessing' I will use as our devotional at our meal," she continued. "I typed it up and pasted it on construction paper, then placed it [...]
Perspective Is Powerful
Good morning... Originally, this weekend was to host graduation festivities for high schoolers in our neck of the world's woods. Our youngest son would have been one of the many celebrating this long-anticipated rite of passage, capping years of hard work in the classroom, unforgettable moments on the sports field, and life-giving hours on a performance stage. No picture party preceding a non-existent prom. No cap and gown extravaganza. No big graduation gatherings [...]
We Can’t Understand
Good morning... I open Biblegateway.com and read the verse for today. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things (Ecclesiastes 11:5, NIV). An old favorite poem pops to mind. I google the phrase "God's tapestry," and...viola...here it is. ****** The Weaver by Grant Colfax Tullar My life is but [...]
Get To Versus Have To
Good morning... Somehow I sense God has a given groove set out for the day ahead. The question becomes, "Will I trudge through today as a series of "have to's" or will I dance through the day as a sacred string of "get to's"? Yesterday, over the phone, I heard myself say to a friend, "Something just dawned on me. 'Have to's' bring heaviness. 'Get to's' bring gratitude." I like easy to remember [...]