Bless Don’t Stress
Good morning... "My dear Sue," she wrote. "I did not respond to your 'crazy' message as I was proudly basking in the light of a perfectly celebrated Easter weekend with our children and grandchildren. I was quickly brought back to reality when I received a text from our daughter blaming me for her daughter being sick at school with a tummy problem. It was because the children got so much chocolate (in their [...]
Do Not Wear Worry
Good morning... "Sue, I just read both Monday and Tuesday's posts," she wrote yesterday. "Well as your 'crazy' moment was about turkey, my UGLY moment was about what our young adult kids chose to wear to church on Easter Sunday. I went off before we left the house and ended up being the naggy mom. So, instead of just being happy that they were BOTH going to be in church with me, I was [...]
My Divine Mistake
Good morning... In the cozy gray comfort of everyday life, I love the way God's light shines on our bathtub around 5:00 pm, evening after evening. Earlier in the week, I snapped this photo before heading to a friend's home to be with the grieving husband of a girlfriend who had died of cancer last month. To remind a small group of us about this gathering, an email reminder had popped up in my [...]
We All Lose It
Good morning... Seems yesterday's post, My "Crazy" Popped Out, pierced a nerve. Just listen to the emails gushing the blood of our human nature. "Your message is one I need to hear over and over again as I go through different seasons with my husband, our boys, our daughters-in-law, and our grandkids. It's a constant struggle to refrain from making things all about 'me' and to think about God's 'Easter power' rising up [...]
My “Crazy” Popped Out
Good morning... In yesterday's post I was grateful to sense the fruits of God's Spirit growing early on my Easter Sunday branch, as I heeded Betty Skinner's wisdom: "The big 'I' must die." Twenty-four hours later, I realized my big "I" had not died, instead my big "I" was crouching inside, keeping score. Let me explain. Two minutes after this picture was taken following the Easter service at our oldest son's church, my [...]
Savor Sabbath: Easter Power Rises In Us
Good morning... I noticed Easter power rising in me twelve hours early. Let me explain just what I mean. At noon on Saturday, I sat on our couch folding load after load of warm, clean laundry. I had enjoyed a conversation with each of our two college-aged daughters home for the holiday weekend and our seventeen-year-old son who added items to our growing grocery list before getting ready for his afternoon lacrosse game. [...]
Were You There?
Good morning... This sacred Saturday, we are called to remember, piecing together, mentally re-membering the painstaking process that crucified our Lord. Here is a song to help you remember, piecing together, re-membering in your mind God's ultimate gift of sacrificial love. Let's take ourselves back with a touching rendition of Were you there? Late in the afternoon a wealthy man from Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus, arrived. His name was Joseph. He went to Pilate [...]
Being Stripped Bare
Good morning... As a church staff, we sprinkled ourselves into the pews of our wide-open sanctuary to commemorate Maundy-Thursday together. Music. Prayers. Scriptures. Sermon. Communion. We experienced the memory of Jesus' final moments wrapped in the flesh of a man. With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw [...]
Join Me On The Park Bench
Good morning... This Maundy-Thursday morning, we meditate on the gentle gifts given by our Lord. "Meditation is like taking a little time to sit on a park bench," writes my friend, 93-year-old Christian mystic, Betty Skinner, "touching your old Friend's hand, feeling the warm sunshine together, gazing at the new blooms that have unfolded overnight, listening for what He might be moved to say, occasionally sharing your hopes and your tears, being together [...]
From Burn To Beauty
Good morning... "Oh Sue," she wrote at 8:38 pm last night, nearly twenty-four hour after our first exchange. "To God be the Glory for the words He places on your heart, captures though your pen, lays on your lips. What you have written is the TRUTH! Continue speaking it, my Sister in Christ." (She was referring to yesterday's post, a post highlighting our online dialogue about "end times" and the devastating fire ravaging [...]
Up From The Ashes Of Notre Dame
Good morning... "Hey Sue," she emailed at 8:23 pm last night. "I am being so blessed by reading your blogs. My daughter and I were talking this afternoon about the devastating destruction of Notre Dame. She asked me is this another sign of the 'end of times' read about in revelation? I would love to hear what you have to say about this relating it to Scripture. Hope all is well." I sat [...]
The Tears Of A Mother
Good morning... "I absolutely love the checkmark visual," one subscriber wrote after Saturday morning's post. "The word descent makes me think of falling completely in love and being totally dependent on God at happy times - my wedding and the birth of our children - in addition to the really difficult seasons." She's right. Painful life seasons (the death of a loved one, a difficult diagnosis, an extra marital affair, an addiction, a [...]