Fall In Love. Stay In Love.
Happy Valentine's Day... "I have loved you just as My Father has loved Me," whispers Jesus in John 15:9 (NLV). "Stay in My love." Find God everywhere. Fall in love. Stay in love. God's absolute love changes everything, finally. ...Sue... P.S. Thanks to all who purchased items for the Valentine's Day party at PAWkids. The personalized gift baskets, the festive balloons, the yummy food and cupcakes, everything tangibly expressed the intimate love of [...]
I Was Forced To Unplug
Good morning... Traveling with my husband Steve to a destination wedding he was officiating, I had no idea I would be completely unplugged. In our quaint, quiet cottage, we had no wi-fi, no internet, no cell service, no television. That meant no blog posts created for our written word community on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. I was forced to go unexpectedly silent. Unplugging from normal connections, I sensed myself plugging in differently. Prayerfully. [...]
The Revolution Of Tenderness
Good morning... "The Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction," says Pope Francis. "True faith in the incarnate Son of God is inseparable from self-giving, from membership in the community, from service, from reconciliation with others. The Son of God, by [...]
Being Freed From Anxiety
Good morning... In yesterday's post, I revealed a strange truth: "I Feel Like Gumby." Stirred awake by the Spirit in the early morning hours, I stretch wide in prayer to hold the deep needs of many. Interestingly, my elementary drawing of this flexible green Gumby now morphs into a new form of creative expression with God. Through colorful, stick figure drawings, I depict on my wide wingspan the concerns weighing heaviest on my [...]
I Feel Like Gumby
Good morning... The brutal ugliness of the raging war. The growing death toll after a devastating earthquake. One young mom's grueling journey with advanced colon cancer. Dear friends offering loving care to their spouses with Alzheimers. Laying to rest a beloved mother, grandmother, friend to many. Waiting with a friend for her daughter's scan results. All the chaotic transitions unpacked in our class discussions. My parents' close, lifetime friend reunited with his wife [...]
I Don’t Know, But I Trust
Good morning... "Transitions are gaps," writes Margaret Silf on page 20 of The Other Side of Chaos. "They mark the gap between the no longer and the not yet. They are the space where we are neither in one place nor another, the hiatus between everything we knew and all that lies ahead in the unknowable future. They mark the place where a certain order breaks down and chaos arises." In class we [...]
Coming Out Of Chaos
Good morning... The Bible begins in chaos. When God began creating the heavens and the earth, the earth was a shapeless, chaotic mass, with the Spirit of God brooding over the dark vapors. Then God said, “Let there be light.” And light appeared (Genesis 1:1-3, TLB). Then immediately God went to work, divided the light from the darkness, setting forth day and night, forming land, sky, and sea, filling the universe with seed-bearing [...]
My Mug Shots
Good morning... "In every picture you take at PAWkids, you exude such joy," said a trusted friend. I'm beginning to realize that the joy we exude offers an "X marks the spot" revelation. A sensation of joyful passion is a great indicator of where and with whom God might want us to invest our time and our talents. Where might you feel drawn to spend your time? Home? Outdoors? The church, school, or [...]
Two Slips Of Paper
Good morning... As we met on Sunday to discuss the first five chapters of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, we discussed the central Bible verse, highlighted here in various translations. Micah 6:8 - English Standard Version He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness,[a] and to walk humbly with your God? Footnotes a. Micah 6:8 Or [...]
Sitting With The Broken
Good morning... A forever friend sent me the image above. "I'm not interested in whether you've stood with the great. I'm interested in whether you've sat with the broken." True. Tender. Touching. I sense the nod of God. Words we read aloud in our Sunday afternoon class now bring this quote to life. ****** Excerpt from pages 17 and 18 of Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson Proximity (sitting with people) has taught me [...]
Grief And Gratefulness
Good morning... "And here is the miracle —" writes poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, "to find in grief not only sorrow but a ravenous gratefulness for life, to find in loss not only emptiness but an unimaginable abundance. It doesn’t happen in a day, no, not even in a year, but who said miracles need be instantaneous." Words from Ralph Waldo Emerson continue to color in the miracle. “This is my wish for you: [...]
You Make Beautiful Things
Good morning... The praise band led us in a meaningful song. I thought of all the dusty rubble blanketing Ukraine. All our living bodies that came from dust and will someday return. The humbling pain of the lost, the grieving, the vulnerable. The organic growth of hope that mysteriously sprouts from our chaos. Revisiting the simple lyrics now, truth reaches, resonates, and renews. Pain. Hope. Chaos. Dust. God is making beautiful things out [...]