I’m Heartbroken
Good morning... "What people stand to discover...is the close relationship between individual heartbreak and the brokenheartedness of the world," notices Barbara Brown Taylor in Learning to Walk in the Dark. "While those who are frightened by the primal energy of dark emotions try to avoid them, becoming more and more cut off from the world at large, those who are willing to wrestle with angels break out of their isolation by dirtying their [...]
Tipping Toward The Holidays
Good morning... During last night's Fall Festival at Northside Church, I sensed our shared experience tipping toward the holidays. Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. It is hard to imagine. Just two short month from today, we will wake up on the morning after Christmas 2023. An important question lifts her head and opens her big brown eyes: "How might I savor, really savor, this holiday season at hand?" One tangible thing we can do is [...]
Reduce Stress. Extend Life.
Good morning... A friend asked me to bring my folders of pre-cut images, my glue sticks and scissors, my blank cards and transparent sleeves. Together we hosted a gathering to make wordless prayer cards at her home with a group of her longtime friends. What joy! The special morning evaporated in such a personal, passionate, powerful way. To begin our time together, I read a quote I had received first thing that morning. [...]
Love What Is Here
Good morning... During this night as the moon fills with light, I am drawn to my new book of poems, Poetry of Presence. Randomly flipping to page 57, I nestle into this moment at hand. There is so much we cannot change about this wounding world. Yet, moment to moment, we can simply love what is here. God. Breath. Mind, heart, and soul. Might we simply [...]
Fully Feel Everything
Good morning... For years we have heard stories about the hometown of our good friends who grew up in Circleville, Ohio. Rural. Midwest. Duplexes. Trailer parks. Picking up road kill for a summer job. Using a choke hold to settle an argument. Walking or biking everywhere. Penny candy store. Drive in movie theatre. Community swimming pool. Public basketball court. Family members appearing on the Jerry Springer show. Both from Circleville, our friends share [...]
Our Pain Heals In Relationship
Good morning... A dear friend in our Friday morning group keeps us closely connected to the progress of her daughter-in-law, 37-year-old Elizabeth, who is battling advanced colon cancer. Periodically, Elizabeth writes candid blog posts to track her brave journey. This week, she shared important wisdom from a book she just finished reading. ****** Excerpt from Elizabeth's 10/19 PostHope entry I just finished a wonderful book by Dr. John Cox called Setting Parents Free. [...]
I’m Feeling War-Torn
Good morning... I went with a dear friend to the CeCe Winans concert at the Fox Theatre this week. This week, as Jerry's body was laid to rest at age 64, leaving his family and friends to grieve. This week, when thousands of ordinary people have lost their lives on all the ugly sides of our world's deep divide. This week, when peace, inside us and between us, seems to be drifting further [...]
I Will Always Remember Jerry
Good morning... As my mind quietly shifts from asleep to awake, I take one huge breath and immediately think of my friend Anne. Today the Landers' family will reverently lay Jerry's body to final rest, but, joy of joys, Jerry's robust spirit has already returned to our God, carried in the arms of his best friend Jesus. I get out of bed and go to my computer, typing in these sacred words: "Jerry [...]
Please Catch And Keep
Good morning... "Almighty God, please catch and keep each suffering soul swept up in the current of this wounding world," begs my newest prayer card. “Lord, to whom shall we go? You [alone] have the words of eternal life [you are our only hope]" (John 6:68, AMP). "Almighty God, please catch and keep each suffering soul." We each go to our eternal home, and the streets here are filled with those who mourn [...]
Aging Into Your Handcrafted Life
Good morning... In our Friday morning group, we hosted a surprise birthday party for one of our friends. Classmates brought gifts and notes, balloons and a homemade cake. Along with briefly discussing our chapter, we created sandtrays, forming an expressive world with miniature symbols in colorful sand, verbally describing how it feels to gather weekly with our loyal friend as she heads into her seventieth year of life. After we sang "Happy birthday!" [...]
“Miss Sue! Miss Sue!”
Good morning... "Miss Sue! Miss Sue!" said two eighth grade counselors-in-training in our after-school program at PAWkids. "Can we get our picture taken with you?" I felt joy on many different levels. First, I have become enough of a regular around this special, bonding place in the Grove Park community that these kids know me by name. How cool is that? Second, the energy on Monday afternoons is electric, filled with the Holy [...]
Hope Rises From Tonight’s New Moon
Good morning... This challenging week, all of the waning light has drained out of the moon. With 0% illumination, the sky will experience a new moon tonight. Then the small sliver of a waxing crescent moon will slowly start to shed light again, like a sense of quiet hope rising from within. My dear friend has had a difficult week. One mid-afternoon, I felt drawn to encourage her with a kinda quirky poem. [...]