We Live In Layers
Good morning... There are so many different aspects of life, various layers of you, me, and us. Football and fantasies. Fighting and friendship. Fun, food, and family. Hurricanes and helpers. Heartache and healing. Hardness, hurriedness, and hopefulness. Wasteful and wonderful. Whining and wondering. Waiting, watching, and "What if?" Individually and collectively, we are a moving mass of living layers. Our daily prayer begins to become, "LORD, please permeate me so that I might see You at [...]
Links To Hurricane Relief
Good morning... Wisdom lingers within me from yesterday's post, When We Feel Broken. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence (Ephesians 1:20-23, MSG). I am so grateful to be a prayerful part of Christ's living [...]
When We Feel Broken
Good morning... I find my mind lifting prayers for devastated Dorian victims in The Bahamas and those most vulnerable residents on our eastern shores. As a symbol of silent solidarity, yesterday I wore this necklace, reminding myself, "With God as our glue, we will heal whole together." Made with a stone I picked up on a Bahamian beach in 2015, this primitive necklace reminds me of the broken body of Christ depicted in the [...]
How Can We Help?
Good morning... Before sophisticated, arial footage of the utter devastation in The Bahamas, "those victims" would have remained foreign, faceless, far away. What stays out of sight slips from our mind. What our eyes see our minds retain. What saturates our mind, our heart feels. What our heart feels moves our lips, our feet, our hands. I am grateful for the media coverage of the Dorian's aftermath. Horrific images. Frightening firsthand accounts. Searching [...]
Cook Up Compassion
Good morning... Reluctantly, yesterday late afternoon, I canceled my flight to Jacksonville, Florida. Hurricane Dorian lies angrily in wait, dangerously daunting. For months I have looked forward to nestling into deep conversation with author of The Hidden Life Awakened, Kitty Crenshaw, and talking over lunch with our 93-year-old friend, Christian mystic Betty Skinner. On Sunday, I got word that Betty and the other residents in her Ponte Vedra Beach nursing home were being [...]
We Each Play Our Part
Good morning... This Labor Day, we face hurricane horror, we grieve devastating loss, and we pray for God's endless love to bridge every gap living between us. My husband's chaplain message from last Monday came at a good time, as we all ask ourselves, "What part can I play in God's healing work in our hurting world?" Considering the needs in our hearts and our homes, within each friend and each stranger, we do [...]
Savor Sabbath: Labor Less
Good morning... As God's higher ways take hold of our lives, we labor less as God lavishly loves. Savoring this Sabbath, allow the Spirit of our living LORD to draw you back to the deep wisdom bonding us this week. Touch the button below to review our past posts. One hand full of rest and patience is better than two fists full of labor and chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 4:6, AMP). ...Sue... [...]
Nothing Can Separate Us
Good morning... When tragedy steals life, I feel drawn to lean in, to reach out, to lift prayers, so I emailed an old friend whose son goes to The University of South Carolina. Over our string of emails, these phrases stood out. She wrote, "Sadly it’s true." "It’s been a difficult and devastating week for the boys...a lot to handle, to think twice." "He was so close to them." "They will be traveling [...]
Making Peace With Suicide
Good morning... I woke to her email, short and deep. I wrote her right back, deep and long. Somehow God ministered to both of us as we unpacked our pain. Sharing just my private response, I invite you into our intimate expression. ****** Personal Email from Sue Allen - August 30th, 2019 Another suicide? Yes, it is completely heartbreaking. I know this truth touches your own raw, open wounds. Not enough time has [...]
Another Suicide?
Good morning... "Sweet Sue," a mom wrote to me yesterday. "While I absolutely related to yesterday’s post very well, today’s title got me right in the gut. I really didn’t have to read anymore. Your timing. God’s timing. My son was in the Greek Village yesterday at the University of South Carolina when the student who took his life was discovered, who was a friend of his. The university quickly started posting the [...]
We Are Not Alone
Good morning... Well, I guess I am not the only person prone to "dragging one's feet." Receiving many responses to yesterday's post, I Am Dragging My Feet, I saw your tender words of wisdom settling into three categories. Some of you looked back, reminiscing, remembering. "Sue, I just wanted to say how fortunate I felt to be included in your Sr. Mom studies. It was such a special time and a difficult one, [...]
I Am Dragging My Feet
Good morning... drag one's feet (idiomatic) To procrastinate, put off; to dawdle, avoid, or make progress slowly and reluctantly. I have been dragging my feet about filing my taxes. (idiomatic) To intentionally stall, to delay, to obstruct. (delay, stall): slow-walk, dilly-dally I google the phrase "drag one's feet" on Wiktionary.org, since for a few week now I have noticed myself doing just that. I am procrastinating and putting off, delaying and dawdling. But [...]