Nesting In Feathers
Good morning... Do not ask me why, but I wake with my morning mind focused on an idiom. After researching the phrase my heart weds my mind. "Feathering one's nest" means to decorate and furnish one's home in style and comfort, which alludes to birds lining their nests with feathers to make them warm and comfortable. A weird truth dawns on me: the feathers once attached for warmth fall off naturally before becoming reused [...]
Differently Similar
Good morning... On the other end of the phone, her voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard to me. Uptight. High-churchy. A bull-in-a-china-shop talker. I must admit, I turned down the volume on my listening ears, saying to myself, "We are SO DIFFERENT, complete opposites." When it was my turn to share some thoughts, I talked about locking eyes with an the owl from three feet away and in gratitude googling "What do owls [...]
Hear And Heal
Good morning... Still shocked by the loss of her loved one, my friend sent out a "thank you" email to those whose prayers now carry her. God shared through her hurting heart life-giving words, words I now share with you. "His service was amazing. It glorified God, celebrated his young life and faith and was attended by approximately 1500 people. The majority of those there were young people; it was an incredible sight. Now [...]
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 [...]