Good morning... Yesterday was a very long day. 7:00 am: I spoke by phone with my mom, my dad, and my sister in the hospital waiting room. As mom was wheeled back for her five to six hour surgery, "We love you," filled her ears, her mind, and her heart. 12:15 pm, my dad's first text came: "She went [...]
Good morning... The wordless prayer card above sits beside me in the living room as I write. The man depicted looks so much like my dad reading the paper at the kitchen table in their sunny Ohio villa. "Good Life," the main heading in the newspaper, is something my parents have enjoyed for 85 and 86 years. The [...]
Good morning... Today's block on my calendar whispers, "Last Quarter," with a tiny sketch of a moon similar to the image above. Left half dark. Right half light. Now, to the light of a lamp in the dark hours of this night, I am drawn back to two quotes we read aloud yesterday during our final Monday class [...]
Good morning... Last Wednesday, we ended our class for the young moms at Northside Church with a simple, low-key, makeshift party. Pretzels and pistachios. Carrots and spicy almond Bitchin' Sauce. Apple cider, seltzer waters and gooey homemade brownies. Easy, honest conversation rounded out our bonding semester, as we sat on the floor, picnic style, in the children's wing [...]
Good morning... Having journeyed together through Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor, we arrive at the final poem. Might all of our learning culminate here? My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going . . . and you will never leave me to face my perils alone. [...]
Good morning... "God Works While We Wait," says the ornament in a pristine box. But waiting feels like being stuck, and being stuck feels yuck. "If you get stuck, lower your standards," my mentor said nonchalantly. ***** If You Get Stuck by Sue Allen If you get stuck, lower your standards. Breathe deep, intentionally. Open space. Wait. Wait [...]
Good morning... As I emerged from a time of deep down prayer, I noticed anew the layers of light living in our home. How often do we take time to notice the layers, the light, the power of life? Elizabeth, a young mom of three who is undergoing intense treatment for her colon cancer, wrote something in a [...]
Good morning... Amid life's complexity, I choose a mug each morning. Black coffee is warm and welcoming, a half-caff companion. Here's a perfect mug choice for this very day. Misshapen and made by a stranger named Jillian, this Goodwill treasure understands the patchiness of our lives, our one-of-a-kind fragments oddly molded together. Naked. Stained crimson. Random parts form [...]
Good morning... This week I received a "thank you" email from LaTonya Gates, Founder and Director of PAWkids. She expressed gratitude for our generous donation of $1,000 to cover the cost of four students visiting Mississippi Valley State University on Homecoming weekend, October 13th-15th. Larenzia Lawrence, LaTonya's daughter and Director of the PAWkids after-school program, led the amazing [...]
Good morning... Together we explored images of hope. Discovered in our self-protective cave, we are touched by cascading light. How might hope be painted on the rubble of our daily lives? We peer through a peephole of possibility. New life sprouts from the clouded mystery. Reaching from opposite sides, together we hold a darkened heart. What our lives [...]
