Will We Trust And Obey God?
Good morning... Sometimes we forget what God said first to us-humans: "You are free to eat of any tree in the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17, NIV). What is the one deadly thing we are told not to eat? The knowledge of what is good and the knowledge of what is evil. [...]
The Gaping Hole Between Us
Good morning... What is God saying to you from the gaping hole between us? This is what I hear right now from my side of the gap. God lives on my side and God lives on yours. Leaning into our LORD, we are buffered by God's living love. You are not designed to meet my needs and I cannot meet yours. Our deepest desires are met as we surrender our daily lives to [...]
Nature Is Our Mirror
Good morning... This summer, two of my best friends and I walked through the mountains near Cashiers, North Carolina, and I snapped this photo of a pruned back tree becoming host to new forms of life, sprouting moss, supporting seedlings. This image returned to mind as I read these words aloud to our class this week. ****** Excerpt from Paula D'Arcy's Seeking With All My Heart During my visit in Oregon, each woman [...]
How An Aging Dog Learns
Good morning... Like expanding the limits of an aging dog, I learned some new tricks this summer. Adobe. Lightroom. Photoshop. These terms were not part of my brain's vocabulary until I sensed the Spirit say, "Sue, let's add pictures to our everyday blog." I have heard it said that a new habit begins establishing itself after it is repeated religiously for thirty consecutive days. For one full month now I have included photos [...]
We Step Into Serenity
Good morning... After our first monthly Spiritual Growth Group she emailed me, giving me permission to share her words: "Sue, what an inspiring 'session' we had yesterday. I was 'high' on our talk and I finally feel READY to begin a spiritual walk toward peace and change. The Serenity Prayer, my symbol of what God is inviting me to grow, keeps running through my mind." She continued: "I think I was so excited [...]
Our Daily Bread Of Grateful Crumbs
Good morning... After last week's post, Plant Today's Crumbs, I will lean back and let your crumbs of gratitude fall upon the page. Collecting our crumbs and warming our daily bread in the oven of time, today we will each savor a sacred slice. ****** Our Crumbs of Gratitude by "Sue To You" subscribers My crumbs of gratitude - a good night's rest and cinnamon in my coffee. Gratitude: Deep, restful sleep. A [...]
Lighting Drips of Gratitude
Good morning... One week ago today as a class we celebrated National Gratitude Day. Quietly thinking of all the things for which we are grateful, we lit candles and dripped multi-colored wax onto a centerpiece of broken shells adorning the coffee table in our living room. As wax dripped down, voices of women raised up. "I am grateful my daughter's hurt finger is not broken." "I am thankful for a community of neighbors helping [...]
Everyone Is Seeing Red
Good morning... "We were asked to look around the room and record in our minds everything red," she explained. (For example: red paint, red candle, red pillow, red flower.) "Next," she said, "we were told to close our eyes. After a few moments, we were instructed to remember anything in the room that was blue." Red. Red is fire, blood, danger. Stealing our focus, red enhances human metabolism, increases respiration rate, and raises [...]
What We No Longer Need Drops Off
Good morning... "The more we let God take over, the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us," says C.S. Lewis. "He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own." As I prepare to read Lewis' [...]
Journals Are My Hairbands
Good morning... Each journal is a hairband, holding "who I am" in place. The rats nest of me is teased out, combed through, then braided loosely with my pen. Morning after morning, silent solitude weaves my strands. Laying prostrate on the page, my growing hairs are held secure. With feelings pulled back from my face, I glimpse God's saving grace. Will you join me in this hairband habit to sense God with your [...]
Together We Braid Love
Good morning... Last Monday our class had a "Cousin Itt" experience with Paula D'Arcy's Seeking With All My Heart. Overwhelmed by wild-haired emotions and immersed in concepts way over our heads, we could not see truth with our individual eyes, so collectively we expressed, "I did not get that chapter at all." "Paula's understanding is way beyond mine." "I read it three times and still do not know what she is saying." I [...]
Our Whole Head Of Emotions
Good morning... I am repeating this image from yesterday's post because I love it so. It captures my experience. In overwhelming moments, it is so very "me." Much like the Cousin Itt character in the 1964 The Addams Family TV series, sometimes I feel like my wild-haired emotions cover my entire body, especially hiding my eyes, rendering me unable to see truth clearly. When asked what is underneath all the hair, in one episode [...]