God Nudges In New Ways
Good morning... A few months back I agreed to facilitate a Sunday school class at a large, local church this morning. I have loved teaching this class in the past and was looking forward to collaboratively learning with this great group again. Earlier in the week, I had exchanged emails with the organizer, sharing the topic, finalizing the details, confirming our commitment. Everything was set. Then a few days ago, in the midst of my [...]
When We Eat Like Crap
Good morning... Heading into the holidays, we need reminders. Yet we must remember: It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person (Matthew 15:11, CSB). Especially when we eat like crap, we are wise to rise from the table, to curl up on the couch, and to talk to God before we speak, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put [...]
Why The Color Purple?
Good morning... “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it," writes Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple from Putnam County, Georgia. Purple. Why does purple so ignite the passion of God? I google the meaning of purple and streamline a ton of fascinating facts. Purple combines the calm stability of blue and the fierce energy of red, sparking creativity and wisdom, peace [...]
Why The New Look?
Good morning... There are many reasons why today our posts are changing format. Streamlining my writing process in the early morning hours will be a time-saver for me. Touching the "Everyday Blog" tab, you can easily scrolling back to enjoy old messages you may have missed. It drives me crazy when the print font is funky and inconsistent; this posting method offers needed consistency. You now have access to the various topics covered this [...]
Get Outside
Good morning... "Most days I eat breakfast and/or lunch on my back porch. Our dogs sit at my feet or play in the yard. The big sky opens wide to offer art lessons. Trees and leaves slow-dance with the breeze. Birds and butterflies, squirrels and chipmunks, all God's creatures frolic in freedom. Fresh air fills my lungs and rejuvenates my skin as I feel the day's change of temperature. Three minutes. Five. Maybe ten. [...]
This Is Not Sustainable
Good Morning... "This is not sustainable," whispered the stunning sentence waking me from sleep on October 20, 2017. Journaling with God in dark, wee hours. Blogging daily and responding to subscribers. Co-shepherding the Women's Ministry at church, praying, teaching, guiding. Being an attentive wife and mom, a loyal friend and daughter. Peacefully providing spiritual direction to those seeking to hear God. For the very first time ever, I felt the un-sustainability of this full phase [...]
God’s Perfect Time and Quirky Ways
Good Morning... As I soaked in the stillness of the Ignatius House Retreat Center, choice words of reflection came to rest upon my page. "Safe. Secure. Simple. That was my old unblemished life. Through a series of large, crashing waves, God separated me from the life of my childhood dreams. Clarity, comfort, connection all tumbled, tumbled, tumbled away. With God saying 'no' to my deepest desires, I was forced to say 'yes' to the life of God's [...]
On Retreat With Our Broken Beauty
Good Morning... I wake the morning after our "With God Weather Life" retreat. I miss the women who experienced with me calming waves of candlelit, colorful sand and shells, Scripture and silence, sacred reading and solitude's rest. For one night and two days, we weathered waves and waves of transformative wisdom. By the Bible, select authors, and one another's stories, we were shaped and reshaped, formed and reformed, strengthened softly from the inside out. [...]
Decide To Live Divided No More
Good morning... "...the people who plant seeds of a movement make a critical decision: they decide to live 'divided no more,'" observes Parker Palmer in Let Your Life Speak, the book I will be teaching on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays next semester. "They decide no longer to act on the outside in a way that contradicts some truth about themselves they hold deeply inside. They decide to claim authentic selfhood and act it out [...]
Sturdy Work Boots
Good morning... I love, love, love my black, well-worn Frye boots. Yesterday was the first day I donned those precious puppies as autumn tips toward winter. When I pulled my boots over my socks, I thought of a phrase that appears in one of my favorite verses in the Message translation of holy scripture. A green Shoot will sprout from Jesse’s stump, from his roots a budding Branch. The life-giving Spirit of God will [...]
Holy Spirit Power Overrides
Good morning... In an unusual act, I set my alarm for just before 3:00 am, intending to pause and to change the message I had pre-programmed very early in the morning. A fifty-five year old husband, father, and friend to many was laid to rest yesterday, four days after he died in a freak car accident. I wanted to alter my morning message to speak into our confused, grief-ladening community. I thought I set my [...]
Is This A God-Thing?
Good morning... After Jesus' death and resurrection, the world's power people were trying to silence the apostles. "Stop talking about this Jesus!" they demanded. When pressed to choose between obeying God and obeying men, the first followers chose God, sharing personally about Jesus everywhere they went. When the council members heard this, they became so angry that they wanted to kill the apostles. But one of the members was the Pharisee Gamaliel, a highly [...]