Eyes On My Porch
Good morning... I looked out my window and I saw eyes staring back at me. In the middle of the day from three feet away, dark eyes locked with mine. Eyes, no neck, and perfectly quaffed feathers, an eighteen inch owl was perched on my porch. We looked at each other for a very long time. Motionless. Peaceful. Soul to soul somehow. When the creature was ready, the beautiful bird flew away. I have [...]
We Are Becoming Perfect
Good morning... After reading yesterday's blog God's Grace With Skin On, my writer-friend wrote: "I read your blog with tears of joy and gratefulness. God really does make beauty from ashes. He used your extraordinary skills to transform what I felt was ugliness into something for His Kingdom. Sometimes people need to see an honest exchange like we had in order to see what the Christian walk looks like among friends. We are not always [...]
God’s Grace With Skin On
Good morning... A friend was a no-show at a planned breakfast. The day after I received the following email. "I am heartsick I forgot our time together as I longed for it. I got my wires crossed because I am on overload and this flew out of my head. (She went on to explain the colliding details which helped her forget our meal. Then she continued...) Of course, with the Alzheimer's in my family, [...]
Centered On Her Assigned Seat
Good morning... In her dream, she is in a large boat snaking through a treacherous river (to get a visual, think about the Colorado River winding through the bowels of the Grand Canyon). There are no other people on the boat, no driver, no companions, yet this huge boat is inching through, seemingly too big for these rarely traveled waters. Into her focus comes the wooden bench at the center of the boat. Intuitively, [...]
Pray Yourself Empty
Good morning... Having recently been through a life-changing loss she wrote: "Over the years I have collected matches from different places, playing cards, ski passes...all reminders of precious moments and places with my loved ones. And now, as I am going through so many things and having to/wanting to get rid, these collectibles have become painful reminders of a past life... Not sure how to handle these feelings." I replied: "I guess the best [...]
My Plethora Of Pens
Good morning... As I prepared to speak at the kickoff gathering for the Moms in Prayer group at the Lovett School, I gathered pens for a writing activity. Pens from around my house. Pens from inside my purse. Pens from crazy crevices in my messy car. Instead of just gathering pens like a fiend, God nudged me to slow down, to notice each pen. Some pens clearly came from a store bought bonus pack, [...]
God Will Help You Deal
Good morning... I was recently reminded of a frightening experience. When our first of four children was born, he was not able to come home from the hospital with us, but instead was taken by ambulance to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Hershey Medical Center in Pennsylvania. We were told by our physician that he may have a rare condition called Hirschsprung's Disease. "The worst case scenario is that he will have [...]
Holy And Beautiful, Inside And Out
Good morning... Down every prayer avenue I knew, I immediately sent this request. "URGENT PRAYERS NEEDED: CALLING ALL PRAYER WARRIORS: Wesleyan moms have reached out to our prayer group asking for urgent prayers now and at 2:45pm today. Please pray for William Parker, a Wesleyan eighth grader who was injured in a football game on Saturday at Woodward. William is at Egleston and has received 2 brain surgeries already and will have the third [...]
Two Acronyms Permeate
Good morning... Today I begin teaching my weekly classes, one class per day. In addition, this fall I am forming monthly "Listening Groups," small groups of no more than eight women seeking to hear God's movement in our daily lives. One group I am offering is called "Practicing Prayer," the other is "Savoring Scripture." Since I am a visual learner and my distractible brain needs constant reminders, I have designed two postcards with acronyms [...]
My Deep, Interior Place
Good morning... God says, "I am offering you life or death, blessing or curse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19). "'Choose life.' That's God's call for us, and there is not a moment in which we do not have to make that choice. Life and death are always before us. In our imaginations, our thoughts, our words, our gestures, our actions ... even in our non-actions. This [...]
Jesus Moved Into Our Neighborhood
Good morning... God the Father did not work alone. As we have already read ...the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters (Genesis 1:2). Also helping to create everything from nothing, we hear of Jesus Christ's presence. In John 1:1-5 (AMP) we read: In the beginning [before all time] was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself. He was [continually existing] in the beginning [co-eternally] [...]
Gestating In Chaos
Good morning... One of the books we are studying in my living room this semester is Margaret Silf's The Other Side of Chaos: Breaking Through When Life Breaks Down. On pages 5 and 6, we read: "Transitions make you ache everywhere. They make you ache, in every joint and muscle and in every brain cell, and in every fiber of your heart. Some of these transitions we freely choose. Some are thrust upon us [...]