Readying Our Home
Good morning... Another Mary has come into my life this holiday season. A subscriber wrote: "Sue, your readers may enjoy 'Making the House Ready for the Lord' by Mary Oliver. It's a favorite of my poetry group at St. Anne's Terrace." So I took his advice and I checked out this poem, written in 2006, by this new-to-me Mary, a National Book Award-author and Pulitzer Prize-winner who lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts. ***** Making the House [...]
How Could Mary Know?
Good morning... At church on Sunday, we sang one of my favorite Christmas songs. Pregnant. Powerful. Provocative. How could Mary know that Jesus would enter her small life and change everything for everyone? Instead of reading written words this morning, why not lean back, listen in, and let God touch you through the gift of song. Mary said: "With all my heart I praise the Lord, because of God my Savior. He cares for me, his humble [...]
Being Rubbed Real
Good morning... The day she left a wrapped gift on my doorstep, I could not wait to rush home to feel with my fingers this fresh fractal of God from my friend Lisa West. Lisa had diligently worked for years preparing to self-publish her book Fear Not! The True Story of a Cancer Survivor Who Was Healed and Transformed by God. God is writing an incredible story through Lisa's small life, and I [...]
When Jesus Comes To Our House
Good morning... For our opening devotional, we read out loud a picture book entitled If Jesus Came To My House. It was such a delight, sparking sweet discussion, so with you I now share as we prepare to welcome Jesus into our homes. Envisioning yourself as an excited child, enjoy these words in silence or read them aloud to your self or your family. ****** If Jesus Came To My House by Joan [...]
LORD Enter My Small Life
Good morning... "LORD!" he began our gathering reciting words from Christian mystic Evelyn Underhill. "Give me courage and love to open the door and contain You to enter, whatever the disguise You come in, enter before I fully recognize my guest." "Come in!" he whispered aloud. "Enter my small life." "Lay Your sacred hands on all the common things," his gentle voice became a prayer, "and small interests of that life and bless [...]
We Are Growing Whole
Good morning... Before the first Christmas morn, Jesus thrived in the wholeness of heaven. Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He [...]
Savor This Sunday: Strength In Surrender
Good morning... I love this photo of a journal I found secondhand at Goodwill. A baby resting in the hands of a father, with words written in a foreign language. The language of letting go feels foreign to us. "Why? How? What will happen?" Our human nature demands, "Cling. Covet more. Control everything," while the Holy Spirit whispers, "Relax. Release all. Rest in the LORD." We play tug-of-war, caught between our selfish urges [...]
We Cling Hard When We Hurt
Good morning... "I love reading your daily blog messages," one subscriber writes. "So many of them resonate with how I am thinking and feeling." "As both you and your readers commented, so many of our hurt feelings are due to how we interpret comments of others," she observes. "Our interpretations highlight our insecurities and expose our false sources of security. One of my examples relates to my insecurity about my appearance and my [...]
God’s Blessing In Our Stressing
Good morning... During times of discombobulating stress, a helpful saying saturates me. "The brook would lose its song if God removed the rocks." We hate the hard knocks from life's jagged rocks, but we love the calming beauty babbling from the brook. Stones and songs. Songs and stones. We do not get one without the other. Stones and songs. Songs and stones. Both invite us to rest, restore, refresh, in sync with the rhythm [...]
God Uses Our Bruises
Good morning... Our recent post, My Feelings Were Hurt, stepped on a very vulnerable nerve. So many responses came rushing in that I did not have the time to express gratitude to all of you individually. So this post is my collective "Thank you" for helping us to examine the bricks in the wall between our hurting hearts and each "well-dressed woman" who crinkles up her nose and asks, "Why were you here?" [...]
How To Say “No”
Good morning... December hosts a plethora of pop-up possibilities. On top of our regular commitments, we add gift buying, Christmas cards, and holiday visits. We pile on parties, special foods, and annual traditions. We struggle with people-pleasing, perfectionist tendencies, and performing our priorities with the greatest of ease. But December is not easy, December can be hard. Yet the blessing of stress forces us to remember: we can not do it all. So [...]
If I Had This Superpower
Good morning... "If you could have one superpower, what would it be?" the ice-breaker question asks. What superpower would you choose? Like a kernel of corn, my best answer pops in my brain. If I was given one superpower, I would choose to possess the power to shrink or to expand the moment at hand, on any given day, at any given time. Here is what I mean. When I am sitting in traffic, [...]