Good morning... Another beautiful gift coming from Ignatius House Retreat Center this week is the following story about compassion, kindness, and the face of Christ in the checkout line. What a wonderful reminder as we wake on day 25 of the KIND30 movement! ****** The Face of Christ in the Checkout Line by Michael Leach When I was [...]
Good morning... Early every morning, God drops new seeds of thought into the rich soil of my innermost being. Yesterday, I received the weekly email from the Ignatius House Retreat Center. It was entitled "Seeds of Hope." "Remind yourself that you are in God’s presence," began the encouraging words. "I ask God for the grace to surrender to [...]
Good morning... Hurricane hell. Deep depression. Open heart surgery. Harsh cancer treatment. War and terror. Division, divorce, and death. Darkness seems to seep into every crevice of our wounding world. "The power of God's promise stunned me so much that I actually gasped out loud," writes Kay Warren on page 105 of Choose Joy. I will give you [...]
Good morning... Audrey DeShetler has been living with neuroblastoma since she was five and a half years old. Now she is a freshman at Notre Dame, loving her new friends and her college experience. "She is doing so well at ND," her mom wrote yesterday. "She has a group of friends who include her in everything. They have [...]
Good morning... Living miles away makes a family visit even sweeter. With my mom's slow recovery from a series of serious surgeries, she has not felt up for a large family gathering since November of 2021. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder," explains the truth we experienced this weekend. On Friday evening, our immediate family of seven flew [...]
Good morning... I have been emailing back and forth with my special friend, Gina Macfarland, who lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina. Yesterday, she sent me a very real, very touching documentary created to shed light on the vulnerable human experience in the wake of Hurricane Helene. "In all the heaviness, almost every time there is an equal [...]
Good morning... During class yesterday, we read aloud Kay Warren's words on page 107 in Choose Joy. "But the reality is, this is earth, not heaven. Sin, pain, illness, loss, separation, grief, mental illness, financial ruin, death, and a whole host of other terrible circumstances happen on a daily basis, and each of us needs to prepare for [...]
Good morning... Much like the moon, her fullness is glowing. After yesterday's post - "It's Cancer." - she put words to God's slow, steady process of healing her whole. "Dear Sue," she wrote. "God is still molding me. Even though more refining fires are needed to purify me, I am aware of and grateful for his guidance over [...]
Good morning... Tonight the nearly full moon lit up the room, beaconing me outside. Barefoot I stood in the damp, cold grass, marveling at the light piercing the night. I thought of a book excerpt we read aloud in class this week from page 87 of Choose Joy by Kay Warren. "My brain froze," Warren writes. "I wanted [...]
Good morning... For many people, today is a day off. In local school districts, it is fall break. For others, it is the Canadian Thanksgiving. For still others, today is called "Indigenous Peoples' Day." "Indigenous Peoples' Day is a holiday in the United States that celebrates and honors Indigenous American peoples and commemorates their histories and cultures," explains [...]
