Subtle Signs
Good morning... "Hi Sue," she wrote from Newton County, Georgia. "Saturday I tried and failed twice to message you, so perhaps the delay was providential." Then she told me her story: "Still seeking a new church home, Sunday I attended a nearby independent 'contemporary' church. Since I still love (and miss) singing in a really good choir, it was out of my usual comfort zone. But the message was part of a series [...]
God Makes Love
Good morning... "Hi Sue," from her home in Vancouver, Washington she wrote me after Saturday's blog, Sow This Love Song. "I loved today’s post. A phrase in the song you posted reminded me of my favorite line in “The End” on the Beatles’ Abbey Road album. Link is here: https://youtu.be/5tvSvjpcBuo Asking if I might share the short link with our online community, she replied, "Of course you can, Sue. I’m so thankful my [...]
Savor Sabbath: Slow Down
Good morning... As we were at the beach for fall break last weekend, I ran into a type of table I had never heard of before. Here is the sign that piqued my interest. "What," I thought, "is a traffic table?" My curious mind came home searching google for an answer. Here is what I learned. A traffic table is "a midblock traffic calming device that raises the entire wheelbase of a vehicle to [...]
Sow This Love Song
Good morning... "I have been fascinated with your posts about the many tables in our lives," she wrote. "So many come to mind! Display table. Side table. Thanksgiving table. The list goes on and on." She continued: "My daughter, living in Charleston, communicates with me in many different ways as she navigates a new city and her entry into adulthood. One way she bonds with me is by making a Spotify playlist. It’s [...]
Helping Hope Happen
Good morning... Yesterday I sat at two very different tables. Invited to sit at my dear friend's table, in the morning I attended the uplifting, inspiring Action Ministries breakfast at the Cobb Energy Center. "What starts as a meal, becomes a conversation," I copied in my journal the words of a spirited speaker. "Out of that conversation grows hope. Together, let's end hunger, period, for 10,000 children." Invited to sit at another dear [...]
Freedom To Fall
Good morning... "We are not helping our children by always preventing them from what might be a necessary falling," writes Richard Rohr on page 28 of Falling Upward, "because you learn how to recover from falling by falling! It is precisely by falling off the bike many times that you eventually learn what the balance feels like. The skater pushing both right and left eventually goes where he or she wants to go. [...]
Meaning From Migraines?
Good morning... As her migraines turned into debilitating vertigo, she was held home, laid low, centered down for weeks. Finally on Friday she returned to class in our living room. Because focussing on small print on the page made her condition worse, she had not read a word of our book for the semester, Richard Rohr’s Falling Upward. She came to be with us, to soak in our soulful discussion, and to share [...]
Center Me Down
Good morning... I pulled the bookmark from my signed copy of one of my favorite books, The Hidden Life Awakened, and I put the small slip of card stock beside the lamp on my bedside table. Centering myself on God's endless Source of life-giving energy, now I whisper aloud each night and each morning the prayer first formed in the heart of Christian mystic Betty Skinner. "Center me down, Lord, to the innermost of [...]
Our Source Of Life
Good morning... I just happened upon a Scripture verse that sums up our Source of eros, life-giving energy. 1 John 5:6-8 in The Message translation says: Jesus—the Divine Christ! He experienced a life-giving birth and a death-killing death. Not only birth from the womb, but baptismal birth of his ministry and sacrificial death. And all the while the Spirit is confirming the truth, the reality of God’s presence at Jesus’ baptism and crucifixion, bringing those [...]
Savor Sabbath: Sit At God’s Table
Good morning... Last Sunday after church, my overactive mind began to wonder, "What different types of tables exist in our world?" I know, quirky question, but stick in here with me. I began to brainstorm a comprehensive list. Billiards table. Changing table. Breakfast table. Conference table. Coffee table. Folding table. Picnic table. Dinner table. Poker table. Negotiating table. Thanksgiving table. Freakishly obsessed, I asked my family members to join my fun. Head table. Kids [...]
The Art Of Giving
Good morning... Our home is filled with artwork created by people I know and love. Margo Boden. Our children. Steve Penley. Gina MacFarland. Sally Mitchell. The one artist who graces our home most often with her beautiful creations is painter, photographer, and philantropist Corrine Adams. One-of-a-kind photographs. Funky seed creations. Transparent bottles filled with cool sayings. Unique jewelry, rings, bracelets, and necklaces. Handmade clothing, scarves, jackets, and t-shirts embroidered by talented women in [...]
Enjoy Life-Giving Energy
Good morning... "We all try to do what seems like the task that life first hands us," writes Richard Rohr, "establishing an identity, a home, relationships, community, security, and building a proper platform for our only life." This is a good place for all of us to begin. Rohr continues: "But it takes us much longer to discover 'the task within the task,' as I like to call it: what are we really [...]