Everything, Everything Changes
Good morning... "Here's another reminder of our 'seed' analogies in our reading lately," texted a friend, sharing the image above. I love the organic wisdom revealed. As we continue to explore our spiritual growth into Christlikeness, as measured by an ancient personality tool called the Enneagram, might we embody the "seed" quote by Cynthia Occellia? "For my true, authentic self to achieve its greatest expression, my false, adapted self must come completely undone. [...]
Calm In Life’s Chaos
Good morning... "Do you know what you will write about each night when you wake?" she asked. "No, I really don't," I said. "I just trust the Spirit to illuminate something I need to ponder." The winds of inspiration pick up as I take our little dog out to relieve herself. Walking back inside, I see a white bag of cut magazine photos a friend left on the front porch for our next [...]
One Full Day Of Life
Good morning... Beneath the beaming sliver of yesterday's partial solar eclipse, I experienced one fun, full day of life. We are thoroughly enjoying a three-day visit from life-long friends whose son is ringing the bell at the Chick-fil-a headquarters today as he becomes an owner/operator. Together, we took in the sky's amazing marvel at the Lovett School, which has been my husband's loyal work home for twenty-nine years. [...]
A Total Eclipse Of Our Heart
Good morning... In much of Mexico, the U.S. and Canada, the enormity and regularity of God's rhythms, set in motion before the beginning of time, will be on full display today, April 8th, 2024. Now up in the middle of the night, I prayerfully research and happily discover. Wikipedia tells us that "a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, briefly obscuring the view of the Sun from [...]
Surrender Everything Now
Good morning... This meaningful hand-hewn birthday gift became the central figure in our Friday class yesterday. With all of us wired very differently to thrive in this world, but the one thing we all have in common is our deep need to surrender everything to God, if we are to grow up into our God-gifted true self. We turned over the card and read this prayer on the back. [...]
Read Slow And Breathe
Good morning... Spending quality time with a friend who is seventy-eight years old, I read aloud to her this poem written by Becky Hemsley. "I have spent my whole life trying to please people," she responded. "It's exhausting and impossible. This poem gives me permission to just breathe and be me." Now as you read aloud this life-giving poem, slow and soft, might you also sense the same invitation? [...]
Feel Everything Often
Good morning... Returning to our collective wisdom, I pulled out my page of notes from our therapeutic community group at PAWkids on Tuesday morning. These words strengthened me for unexpectedly hard moments ahead. We can’t selectively feel our emotions. We can’t choose the “good” ones without dealing with the “bad" ones. Our feelings are all intertwined. I don’t like feeling… lonely, angry, confused, depressed. I do like feeling… hopeful, amazed, peaceful, bonded. Might [...]
My Heart Feels Broken
Good morning... On Monday during the wee hours of the morning, I posted a Scripture referring to "all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe." Then on Tuesday night when I woke to write, our website was weirdly "broken." Unable to craft a blog message, yesterday our written word community went without. Later in the day, with the help of our web designer, we were able to create a template for this post, [...]
All Of Our Broken Pieces
Good morning... "Christ Holds It All Together" reads the heading above Colossians 1:15-20 in the Message translation. As we bullet point the wisdom of this lively section of Scripture, we begin to sense why the risen Christ is so essential to our entire existence. We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely [...]
Is The Tomb A Womb?
Good morning... In the dark of this night, I feel drawn to page 154 in one of my favorite books, When the Heart Waits, by Sue Monk Kidd. I return to the section entitled EASTERING. Midway through the next page I read: "My thoughts about Jesus waiting in the tomb for Easter began to blend with the thoughts I had during the week about the soul waiting in the womb for new birth. [...]
A Gift On Good Friday
Good morning... I brought two good friends with me to the Maundy Thursday service at Northside Church yesterday. After reading about Jesus serving his first communion at the Last Supper (Luke 22:14-23) and his painful struggle to surrender to the will of God in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:39-53), we were all invited to kneel at the welcoming communion table. The final scripture [...]
People Live With Cancer
Good morning... A friend's comment caused an important shift. "People do not die of cancer," she said. "People live with cancer." I suppose it is the same with Alzheimers, heart disease, and grief. With the moments we are given, might we ask, "God, how might I best live this day?" It was almost time for the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that it was time for him to leave this world and go back [...]