When We Feel Useless
Good morning... "Dear friend, as always, I am SOO PROUD of you for this wonderful birth," she wrote after yesterday's post, I Just Birthed A Baby. "You are just in an amazing season of being highly in tune with God's rhythm." She continued: "When you asked the question of us however, what am I pregnant with? I burst into tears- I'm just being honest- I am not sure I am pregnant with anything- [...]
I Just Birthed A Baby
Good morning... I feel like I just birthed a 12 pound baby. Naturally. After three full day of hard, hard labor. Our baby was conceived by God a long while back, but this was the weekend her due date graced my calendar. Sunday was my well anticipated time to deliver. For months and months, really years and years, new life had been growing in me, quietly, slowly. When the time was right, I [...]
Savor Sabbath: Falling This Fall
Good morning... My attention was caught by James 1:19-21 in The Message translation. These three verses whisper saving wisdom to savor this Sabbath. Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, [...]
Look Upside-Down
Good morning... At 3:00 am we received yesterday's post, Will You Fall Upward? Without skipping a beat, at 5:01 am I received in my inbox the continuation of God's life-giving lesson through the morning meditation of Henri Nouwen Society. ****** Henri Nouwen Society DAILY MEDITATION - SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 Our life is a short opportunity to say yes to God’s love. Our death is a full coming home to that love. Do we [...]
Will You Fall Upward?
Good morning... "I love, love, love this!" she wrote after yesterday's post, Take Three Steps. "I tend to get a little glum in the fall. As the days grow shorter, the light changes, the energy of spring and summer fades, I feel a little sadness. I have been reading our Richard Rohr book, Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life, and following along with your daily blog. Both resources have [...]
Take Three Steps
Good morning... "As I read this morning's message," one of you wrote after reading of the "hidden wholeness" of fall, "I thought of the Bible study I am doing, The Good and Beautiful God series. Might we look at autumn as an opportunity to shed old self-protective habits to make room for the Holy Spirit within us to make new habits grow? So the browning, the dying, the falling off of old bad habits [...]
Here Is Where We Differ
Good morning... Okay. I have to admit. I left out one sentence from the Parker Palmer quote highlighted in our previous two posts. This sentence stood out to me like a sore thumb. We all differ in myriad ways, and this one sentence sums up one way my belief differs from the truth expressed on page 98 of Let Your Life Speak. "I am drawn down by the prospect of death," Parker Palmer [...]
Held In Hidden Wholeness
Good morning... To the gathering of over fifty Lovett School moms, I read aloud the Parker Palmer quote saturating yesterday's post, The First Day Of Fall. Before I shared his gorgeous words, I handed out a blank piece of paper, I instructed the women to divide their paper in half, and I asked them to place at the top of their page "Fall 2019," reminding them that this autumn would never come again [...]
This First Day Of Fall
Good morning... Today we welcome the first official day of fall 2019. As I prepare this morning's kick-off talk for the Lovett Moms In Prayer group, I reflect again on two pages from a book I taught in our living room last fall semester. "Autumn is a season of great beauty," I will read aloud Let Your Life Speak wisdom to this gracious group of praying moms. "But it is also a season [...]
Savor Sabbath: God Saves
Good morning... This week we are savoring an image sparking intimate trust with our living LORD. On Monday, we learned: The Lord your God is with you . . . even when you make mistakes. He is mighty to save (deliver, make whole) . . . even and especially when you fail. He will take great delight in you . . . even when you can’t stand yourself. He will quiet you with [...]
When I Went Under
Good morning... I responded to the reader who wrote yesterday's post, A Hand Reached Down. Her frightening memory as a child sparked a similar story from my childhood. "I too have a falling in the pool experience when I was a toddler," I responded to her email. "Oddly, my memory was laced with a sense of complete peace. Sinking slowly. Looking up. Waiting for rescue." In 2014, this story from my childhood was the [...]
A Hand Reached Down
Good morning... "Though I have forwarded your blog to my family members more times than I can count, and though I have silently responded to you in my brain just as many times, I have never sent an actual response." She admitted, "It’s intimidating to put down thoughts, but I’m responding to the post of Monday. Because of a stomach bug, I am behind on reading your messages, so I opened up this [...]