If You Give A Kid A Cookie
Good morning... As the rains set in yesterday morning, our afternoon plans needed to change. As regular weekly volunteers, we brainstormed indoor activities for our final Monday gathering at PAWkids. Beading. Board games. Musical chairs. Freeze dance. Then came the Program Director's request. "Cookie decorating, maybe?" My happy heart lit up. Since I have a mom who loved making homemade cookies with us, I became a mom who loved making homemade cookies with [...]
Processing Elizabeth’s Pain
Good morning... During our final Wordless Prayer Card making session on the third Wednesday in April, one woman made a card for Elizabeth, the 38-year-old wife and mom of three who is facing the spread of her advanced colon cancer. Elizabeth is the daughter-in-law of our dear friend, Joan, who is a loyal member of our Friday morning class. "This butterfly is emerging from the darkness into a new form of life," said [...]
Thanking My Mother
Good morning... I picked out the perfect Mother's Day card, wrote my loving thanks in my own handwriting, and stuck it in the mail earlier this week. As my mom opens the card and feels the love of our family, I hope she will listen closely to the lyrics of the music video below, A Mother Like You by JJ Heller. [Verse 1] You gave me a drawer in your kitchen You gave [...]
Steve’s Final Chapel
Good morning... Today is a day to celebrate the bittersweetness of life. In the morning, I will experience with entire The Lovett School community the final chapel led by my husband, Steve. After 29 years as chaplain, Steve will deliver his final sermon to the kids (kindergarten through 12th grade), the faculty, and the parents in attendance. He will remain on Lovett's chaplain team full time as Chaplain Emeritus, providing pastoral care for [...]
I Miss Ordinary Days
Good morning... Recently I snapped the photo above outside the home of a woman in our young mom's class from church. I love the colorful toys and chairs in the yard, the tiny basketball hoop in the driveway, and carseats leaning up against the garage. "Your yard and home are just so happy!" I texted her in the middle of an ordinary day. "I could not resist taking a few photos to encourage [...]
Walk With Steve And Me
Good morning... Yesterday I walked with a friend who recently returned from her pilgrimage along the Camino de Santiago in Spain. Camino is Spanish for "way" or "path" and Santiago means "Saint James," so my friend walked the way of James, who walked the way of Jesus. For my birthday in March, this friend got me a book, The Way is Made by Walking by Arthur Paul Boers, which chronicles the sacred adventure [...]
Great Day. Bad Dream.
Good morning... We had great time at PAWkids yesterday. Laughing. Dancing. Playing ball. Making tissue paper flowers, homemade cards, and wrapping donated jewelry for Mother's Day gifts. Enjoying a generous dinner served by the Tuesday night Bible study from Northside Church. We had a really great time. And yet, just now, [...]
A Little Light In Our Dark
Good morning... Look. A little light shines in the dark of this night. Just enough light sets a single blanket aglow, on the back of a chair beams one simple throw. How this happens, God, I don't know. I don't know, but I do notice. After snapping the photo of this perfect patch of light, I open an email and admire a single sentence. Prompted by the life and writings of Thomas Merton, [...]
May Speeds Too Fast
Good morning... May speeds way too fast. Extra commitments. Final gatherings. Parties, performances, end-of-school-year stuff. As we slowed down to sit on her screened-in back porch, we unpacked a quote from Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. "To say how little, not how much, can I get along with. To say - is it necessary? - when I am tempted to add [...]
Wisdom From Elizabeth
Good morning... On Tuesday morning, a friend sent me this quote from Elizabeth Alexander. This Elizabeth Alexander is a poet and essayist, a teacher and playwright who was born in Harlem, New York. Wikipedia explains, "Previously, Alexander was a professor for 15 years at Yale University, where she taught poetry and chaired the African American studies department. In 2015, she was appointed director of creativity and free expression at the Ford Foundation. She [...]
Grace To Face Life’s Mysteries
Good morning... I open up this precious card to read these handwritten words: "Dear Sue, I found these cards at the bottom of the mailing box that your wooden hands came in. I'm sorry they were overlooked! Thank you also for another wonderful semester of learning and loving with you." Similar to the original "surrender" card, which I have shared in the past few posts, I find four square cards, each with a [...]
Unclench My Fists
Good morning... She emailed me after yesterday's post, It's Okay Not To Be Okay. "Upon waking today, holding tight on the 3rd anniversary of my husband’s death," she wrote, "I read your message with the open hands. Then, lo and behold, Henri Nouwen is telling me to unclench my fists and let love enter. I pray with open hands to let God’s love enter." ****** DAILY MEDITATION | APRIL 30, 2024 - A [...]