How Will I Wash Feet Today?
Good morning… As I prepare for this month's Listening Group, I read again Jesus' ultimate show of powerful love before he begins his walk to the cross. We pick up the story in John 13:1-17 in the Contemporary English Version. It was before Passover, and Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and to return to the Father. He had always loved his followers in this world, and [...]
What Would Julie Do?
Good morning... "What would Julie do?" This is a question many of us have been asking regularly since April 2nd, when our 41 year old friend left earth for heaven. When wondering if a mother/son event should be canceled, we trust Julie would want the celebration to go on. When faced with how to best to share Christ's love with our kids, our minds stretch to envision how Julie might respond as a mom. [...]
Run Toward the Roar
A friend in my Tuesday group sent me a very challenging article, an article passed on to her by a friend, an article by Davey Blackburn from 4.18.16 entitled "Running Toward the Roar." Some of the most profound comments, I will share here, with a link to the entire article below. "Perhaps one of the most impactful books I’ve read in this season is Levi Lusko's Through the Eyes of a Lion. Levi lost [...]
God Throws and Grows Seeds
Good morning... When asked to teach a Sunday school class at Peachtree Road Methodist, I was given the topic. "How best do we pass along faith to our young adult children?" God shepherded the spirited group through an interesting lesson, creatively cultivating the soil of our hearts. After unpacking a plethora of parenting possibilities, we shifted our focus from ourselves as parents to the One Wise Parent, reading aloud the promises of God. Then [...]
Teary Eyes Open Wide To God
Good morning... "After my mother passed away we were going through her things and this poem was in her wallet," wrote one subscriber after my 4.21.17 post. She continued, "I thought I would send you all of the verses my mother had on this little card she carried in her wallet." i thank you god for this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and [...]
What Really Happened?
Good morning… I just got up from my morning ritual of quiet time with God and my open Bible, a random pen and my current journal. For my spiritual direction training program, our cohort of classmates has been walking slowly through Larry Warner's book Journey with Jesus, an adaptation of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, Exercises written to help us "enter into a holistic, life-transforming journey toward Christlikeness." (9) This morning, we opened [...]
Say “Yes” To Today
Good morning... Before leaving our final gathering of the semester, she gave me a tender hug, handed me a small paper bag, and softly said, "You came into my life at just the right time." Standing beside her, I pulled from the flat, brown bag one simple, organic-looking card bearing rudimentary typing. Our hearts nestled together, breathing in the words of e.e. cummings. "i thank you god for this most amazing day: for the [...]
God Permeates Our Entire Loaf
Good morning... "Our spiritual life is not one slice in a loaf of bread with others slices representing family, work, church, neighborhood, and so on," says author and spiritual director Jan Johnson. "Our life with God is the leaven permeating the entire loaf. And when we ignore God's presence in all of life, our soul weakens and we shrink from being all we were created to be." (When the Soul Listens, p. 151) The [...]
My Soul Is A Baby Content
Good morning... As I held the soft hands of 91 year old Betty Skinner, she said something like this, "Sue, I really love this season in my life. There is little I need to do each day. I have many hours to pray, to read, to commune with God. This is a sweet, sweet season. But I must tell you, I miss the years of teaching and leading spiritual retreats. Those years were such [...]
My Soul Is A Baby Content
As I held the soft hands of 91 year old Betty Skinner, she said something like this, "Sue, I really love this season in my life. There is little I need to do each day. I have many hours to pray, to read, to commune with God. This is a sweet, sweet season. But I must tell you, I miss the years of teaching and leading spiritual retreats. Those years were such fun. And [...]
Thank Our Restorative God
Good morning... Yesterday Ben DeShetler's Caring Bridge post was short, simple, smiling: "Still NED! In case you haven't heard, Audrey is still NED!!! We are still waiting on the bone marrow results but they said probably not to worry. I'll post more later as I find out." On 4.13.17, my "Fab 5 friends" post told the story of my lifelong journey with my friend Jennifer who walks beside her daughter Audrey (11) as she [...]
Serving God’s Fresh Punch
Good morning... My forever writer-friend emailed me. "Loved your post about tweaking your final tweet. We are in constant edit mode, aren't we, as we listen harder, hear more? Reading a book of poems called A Maze Me: Poems for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye this morning and loved this one. I thought you would, too. ****** Because of Poems Words have secret parties. Verbs, adjectives, and nouns meet outside their usual boundaries, wearing [...]