We Grieve Some Holidays
Good morning... "I must admit that I am THANKFUL to have another Thanksgiving behind me," a subscriber from Charlotte, N.C. writes as she grieves the loss of her young adult son. "Yesterday was tough, and also were the days leading up to it. The anticipation alone puts me in a state of angst, frustration, sadness and anger, all within an hour!" I asked Mary, whom I have never met, if I might share [...]
Back To God’s Vine
Good morning... Today is a new day. The sins of yesterday need not expand into the sins of today. Ugly thoughts. Biting words. Selfish deeds. Together with God, we can nip these painful buds right off our branch, letting them fall to the ground, to become humbling hummus for the soil beneath our feet. As we allow our attention to travel from the troubled tentacles at our tips, back down beneath our bark [...]
Focus On What “Is”
Happy Thanksgiving... As we focus on what "is" gratitude grows. "Will I stop focusing forever on what was not given to me," wonders Paula D'Arcy, "and stop regretting the gifts that were brief?" That is a challenging question. Stop focusing on not. Stop regretting brief. As long as we focus forever on what was not given and repeatedly regret gifts that were brief, we will cause ourselves pain. As we focus on what "is" [...]
Do Not Get Bent Out Of Shape
Good morning... "Blessed are the flexable, for they shall not be bent out of shape," says the church sign welcoming the holidays. To be "bent out of shape" implies that we start with a strong, solid shape in mind. Consciously or unconsciously, we think we know how the holidays "should" go, "should" look, "should" feel. Yet our best laid plans clash with unmet hopes, glitches galore, and off-track timing. With the unexpected to be [...]
More Than Words
Good morning... The aging parents of three close friends transitioned from earth to heaven this week. I shared a few intimate words: "I am praying for you and will continue praying." Both separate from and connected to, my heart kneels down to lift up my prayer: "In their darkest hours, give them each a friend with whom they can be silent." Now my heart asks more: "And, God, let that friend be You." [...]
Why Is This Post Late?
Good morning... This post will reach us after 8:00 am when fresh morning messages are normally scheduled to grace our inbox at 3:00 am. Why? Why is this post late? Because sometimes it is difficult and time consuming for me to put words to God's new morning light dawning from within me. Today is one of those late blooming sunrises. Recently a friend said, "I have no idea how you do all you do, caring [...]
Be A “Nurse Tree”
Good morning... On Saturday, August 4th, 2018, three of us hiked quietly through a mountainous forest near Cashiers, North Carolina. We came upon an interesting plaque beside a fallen tree. "Competition is fierce in nature," read the engraved words, "even among the beautiful trees, shrubs, and herbs in the forest. Sunlight, water, and nutrients are quietly 'fought over' by entangled root systems and branches of neighboring plants." The wisdom untangled as we read along: [...]
One Favorite Old Post
Good morning... Since I began blogging daily in January of 2012, there have been a large handful of posts I will always remember. Posts I love. Posts teaching timeless truths. Posts continuing to shape me, even to this day. The wildfires in California now spark in my mind one of my favorite posts of all time, written in 2014. ****** Seeds Released By Fire by Sue Allen I discovered something amazing when our family [...]
My Two Men In California
Good morning... Media images expose California's charred devastation. Haunting. Horrifying. Heartbreaking. So much beauty and vibrant life reduced to soot, ashes, remains. The smoldering stench in the air must smell suffocating. Two men I love live in California. One a family member, the other a forever friend. One a Democrat, the other a Republican. One homosexual, the other heterosexual. One with a lifetime partner, the other still an eligible bachelor. One a recovering [...]
Trees Dance With God
Good morning... We sat in a small, sacred circle, ranging from one-hundred-and-one years old, through ninety-eighty-seventy-somethings, to fifty-five year old me. Our soulful speaker, a dear friend of mine, read aloud wisdom from Richard Rohr: "Poetry gives you resonance more than logical proof, and resonance is much more healing and integrating." He continued reading Rohr in his slow, rich voice: "For poetry to be most effective, I believe it should be spoken aloud, [...]
The Stench Of Sacrifice
Good morning... I diligently discerned yesterday's morning message, learning from a new-to-me-word: nosegay. I scheduled the blog post to come to you at 3:00 am, and then I drove through rainy traffic, arriving late to my 9:30 meeting. As our group did a check-in, sharing what was on our hearts as we entered the room, the first thing I said was, "I have just spent some intense hours learning about the word nosegay." [...]
The Whiff Of One Weird Word
Good morning... Nosegay. When is the last time you heard the word nosegay? Tickling my attention, this weird word appeared in our recent post God's Message In My Dream. Often when the "indwelling Divine Guest whose Voice is spoken in the Silence" speaks into my ordinary life, the LORD's language sounds foreign. "God, what is a nosegay?" I scribble in my journal before copying what I learn. Nosegay is a homegrown English word from the [...]