Wisdom In Our Weeping
Good morning... Over thirty years ago when my husband and I walked up the wedding aisle as twenty-four year old newlyweds, we could not have known we would wake today seeking God's wisdom with a community of grievers. Before crafting this morning's blog message, I dig down deep to mine the hidden gems of God's living presence. As the chaplain at our school, which is reeling from the recent loss of a beloved trustee [...]
Verbs To Love By
Good morning... I am not sure why the Spirit nudged me to google: "Mother Teresa quotes." I suppose I was looking for a bit of wisdom from a woman who loved well, loved both our God and the hurting people around her. The following poem was reportedly inscribed on the wall of the home she founded for orphaned children in Calcutta, India. The original version of the poem, written by Kent M. Keith in [...]
Our Deepest Roots
Good morning... Somewhere at some point within this past week, I ran across this quote hanging on someone's wall: "Our deepest roots are not touched by the frost." Our deepest roots have been growing since God first brought us to mind, and disaster and depression and even death deepen us down to our sturdiest roots. Jesus whispers, "I have loved you just as the Father has loved Me; remain in My love [and do [...]
Fill The Hole In My Soul
Good morning... Looking for something else in our storage room, I found an unexpected gift. This week both of our daughters have had a friend end their earthly lives early. One young man a senior, one a freshman, each at different colleges. In life's darkest hours, I struggle: "Where are You, God? Who are You, God? God, what are You doing?" Then, tucked in my basement, I ran across these words from my first [...]
Just Stand By
Good morning... "Your post reminds me of one of my favorite poems," she wrote after reading yesterday's message, Be Deep-Spirited Friends. ****** “The Friend who Just Stands By,” B. Y. Williams When trouble comes your soul to try, You love the friend who just “stands by.” Perhaps there’s nothing he can do— The thing is strictly up to you; For there are troubles all your own, And paths the soul must tread alone; Times [...]
Be Deep-Spirited Friends
Good morning... "The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing... not healing, not curing... that is a friend who cares.” This Henri Nouwen quote reminds me of the "Three C" wisdom of the twelve-step program. When pain ravages the life of a loved one, we must remember: I did not cause [...]
The Rhythm Of Peace
Good morning... She wrote me a short, sweet reply after yesterday's post, The Prayers Of A Child, in which I presented this pondering point, "Thinking back on yourself as a child, what regular rituals may have been your first forms of prayer?" "In response to today's blog. . . playing Jacks on the smooth, cool, shaded concrete front porch of our San Antonio, Texas home. I could do it for hours and be perfectly content. [...]
The Prayers Of A Child
Good morning... When I was a little girl growing up in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, I remember a regular summertime ritual. I would make myself a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and enjoy a private picnic, perched on a mossy patch between two bushes, beside a tiny ditch of trickling water. I would daydream and dawdle. Looking. Listening. Lounging. Fresh air and feelings were my best friends. Time would pass with me outside, alone, nurtured by [...]
Are You Being You?
Good morning... By 12:34 am I was stirred awake from sleep by a panicky dream. So I got up from bed, scratched notes in my journal, then went back to bed to sleep through the night. Now I wake for the day at 6:43 am and I try to read the words chicken-scratched in last night's dark: "Fingerprint - carbon copy - at 1:23 am, put your thumb on the start button of phone - [...]
Exude God’s Peace
Good morning... A woman who sits with me in spiritual direction, for one hour each month, offered simple, straightforward encouragement: "I feel you have this gift. Wanted to share." Intrigued, I read Bob Dannals' devotional from 2.1.18. ****** Some interpreters are always trying to figure out what really happened in the Bible's healing stories, as if they in some sense less than real. What is clear is that Jesus had an extraordinary pastoral manner [...]
Trials Increase Our Trust
Good morning... "I remember feeling pregnant with twins," she wrote me after yesterday's post, I Feel Pregnant With Quadruplets. "My husband would ask how I felt each day and my answer was always, "Heavy, I feel heavy." Not "I feel fat," but "I feel heavy." Heavy from the physical load on my body and heavy from the emotional load on my brain, wondering how I was going to be a mother to not just [...]
I Feel Pregnant With Quadruplets
Good morning... Last week, I held my head like a 9-month-pregnant belly. My spiritual director said, "I have never seen you do that before, holding you head with both hands like you are trying to keep it from exploding." It's true. I felt like my brain could burst at any time with all the doubling daily details. This spring, I have four additional projects stretching me uncomfortably. Write an article about "Julie's Dream," a [...]