Sometimes Joy Happens
Good morning... "I am going to read a Mary Oliver poem for Thanksgiving as part of our family's blessing," she texted. "Will you take a picture of the poem you choose and share it with me?" I replied. "I will be deeply with you in Spirit." Thursday at 8:41 am, I received her inviting selection. Give in to joy. Don't hesitate. Don't be afraid of its [...]
A Friend Did Not Come Home
Good morning... My endless circle of prayer has another twisted link in it. This morning I deeply pray for a family I do not know. On Thanksgiving morning, our youngest son, Jeremiah, came home after spending a celebratory night at a friend's house. This family's son celebrated similarly, but their son did not come home. He ended up falling asleep beside a friend at another house, and he never woke up. Both students [...]
Adapt. Adapt. Adapt.
Good morning... "I'll bring the flowers," said our new daughter-in-law, as we planned Thanksgiving details. How fabulous! Chandler has begun her new business, Earl Grey Floral, in Athens, Georgia. With a wedding reception in Savannah this weekend, she made us a gorgeous centerpiece with a few of the extra flowers. I can adapt to that! Adapt. This was the word popping in my mind all day yesterday. When the timing didn't work quite [...]
Joy Invades Grief
Good morning... "What do joy and grief have in common?" asks poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. "...The ability to evoke feeling that pushes us and opens us and helps us to be compassionate and helps us fall in love." In the 10-minute video below, released yesterday for this holiday season, Rosemerry reads poems that span grief and joy from her new collection All the Honey. She speaks of what she knows now about grief [...]
We Are Breaking
Good morning... "It saddens me to see such division in our church, but God will help us figure that out," she wrote after yesterday's post. "I came across this poem and I think it speaks for people as well as for the church. My depression is still waxing and waining like the moon, so I know it speaks for me. Have a blessed Thanksgiving." ****** Become!!! by John Roedel Me: Hey God. God: [...]
Changes In The Church
Good morning... I woke yesterday to an email from our pastor announcing changes in the United Methodist Church. "In what was a solemn day, members of the 2023 North Georgia Annual Conference ratified the disaffiliation agreements of 261 churches at a Special Called Session," begins the article recounting Saturday's important gathering. Later we learn "...approximately 440 North Georgia Conference churches will continue the work of fulfilling the mission of the United Methodist church [...]
GRACE Trickles Down
Good morning... As I visited my new nephew in Ohio last week, I went to the bathroom before leaving for the airport to fly back to Atlanta. As I stepped back into their kitchen, I saw the sight above - the hand painted plaque I had commissioned for my sister's son and his wife when they married in 2018. At the time, I had been processing the concept of GRACE and came up [...]
How Did Last Night Go?
Good morning... As I washed my face, finally home after speaking at last night's Holiday Gathering, I looked at my hand and saw my talk in a nutshell. "Shoulds. Read story. 2 shells. Another story. Picture - perfect looking, broken. Dark night. 3 things. Journaling. Northside groups. PAWkids." Then on the tips of my fingers. "Elf. Water. Quote. Bathe shells." Those of you who wanted a recap, there it is, as close as [...]
Be The Disco Ball
Good morning... "Thought of you and the Holiday Gathering you are doing," she texted along with the clever image above. She made me smile. She made me chuckle. She made me feel loved and supported. "A disco ball is hundreds of pieces of broken glass put together to make a magical ball of light," reads the Judi Holler quote. "You aren't broken; you are a disco ball." Next my curiosity thought, "How does [...]
Dark Night Of Our Soul
Good morning... This has never happened to me before. I spent diligent time discerning our morning message in the middle of yesterday's dark night, then I unconsciously drifted to sleep on the couch where I write. I woke, climbed in bed, woke again, then headed into a very full day. "We didn't get your blog today," my dad wrote from Ohio at 10:14 am. "Please re-send it." As I sorted through my emails, [...]
Prepare For The Holidays. Mind. Heart. Gut.
Good morning... I wake to the special email below, reminding me of this week's Holiday Gathering. Whimsical. Welcoming. The invitation quietly whispers, "Get ready for a wonderful evening." God and I have been diligently discerning fresh wisdom to share with the down-to-earth women of our community. If you are free on Thursday night, please consider joining us as we prepare our minds, our hearts and our guts. Together, we will learn to savor [...]
We Face An Unknown Future
Good morning... We face an unknown future, dependent on the grace of God. What is grace exactly, Lord? a. Divine favor bestowed freely on people. b. The state of having received unearned favor. c. A supernatural power granted unconditionally by God. God is full of grace. From him we have all received grace in place of the grace already given (John 1:16, NIRV). From God, we all receive compounding grace. Given, given, given [...]