This Is The Right Time
Good morning... This week, I took pictures of two trees in our back yard. The first photo in each set was taken on Monday. The second in each set was taken on Thursday. Will I open the wooden gate of my innermost self to notice the light of God's presence amid life's changing seasons? There is a right time for everything, [...]
A Special Thanks To You
Good morning... Reflecting on this fall, do you remember the 15 Bags Of Abundant Love we created for the overnight retreat at Ignatius House hosted for women recovering from homelessness and addiction? So many of us contributed special items to fill the bags with symbols of God's extravagant love. Well, on Tuesday I received the following note from Maria Cressler, the Executive Director of [...]
Art, Art Everywhere!
Good morning... On Friday, November 4th, I was having one of those mornings. Down on me. Beating myself up. Frustrated with a selfish choice. After lingering longer motionless in bed, I went to my phone and opened this text. "Hey Sue!" she wrote. "I am thinking I will have an art show at my home studio. I would like to donate a percentage of the proceeds to a particular charity. I have a [...]
From Miscarriage To Motherhood
Good morning... Along life's way, many women lose at least one child to miscarriage or to a full term still birth. I myself had four miscarriages before giving birth to our four great kids. This is a quiet grief with empty arms, a grief which reshapes our soul. "It is good for me to stop and feel the loss sometimes," wrote a friend yesterday who had a still birth years ago before giving [...]
When A Mom Loses A Child
Good morning... Two women in our Monday group have lost their sons this year. One young man was forty-three, the other was eighteen. For these grieving mothers, Thanksgiving was quite hard. The absence felt so loud. As I happen upon this poem, I wrap my prayers for these two moms in the communion feast of silence. ****** The Mother Stands in the Doorway by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer Because you are gone, I will [...]
Seeing The Invisible
Good morning... Yesterday, the first Sunday in Advent, my cell phone was filled with two tender text strings from our Monday and Friday groups. As our fall classes have ended, something new is beginning. Physically separate and mysteriously together, we're texting to process new births, fresh fears, and cross country moves. We're facing first holidays with cancer and first holidays without loved ones. We're sharing family photos, verbalizing vulnerable prayers, and offering to [...]
Small Circles Support Us
Good morning... Pitching in to make a feast, our family of six relaxed around the Thanksgiving table. Small circles of family and friends support each of us every day, do our hearts savor the love? We share meals, we share stories, we share an evolving history. We share time, we share gifts, we share words of encouragement. We share heartaches, we share joys, we share hopes and possibilities. Together we live into the [...]
As We Wake Stuffed
Good morning... I love this Halloween photo of our nephew and his expectant wife. On the morning after Thanksgiving, many of us wake stuffed. "Today's average American lives more comfortably than the nineteenth century's wealthiest tycoons, who never beheld the sky from an airplane seat, browsed a website, heated soup in a microwave, or looked at a color photograph," observes Chris Lowney, writer, speaker, formerly a managing director of JP Morgan and currently [...]
What Tops My Gratitude List?
Good morning... "The whole person is involved when we give thanks from our hearts," says Br. David Steindl-Rast. As I wake early this Thanksgiving morn, my heart is saturated with gratitude. I am grateful for small, simple pleasures - a furry blanket and cozy socks that hug my feet just right. I am grateful for my husband and our home, our two dogs and our four kids, who will feast together today. I [...]
Gratitude Is Born In The Storm
Good morning... Our Friday group finished the fall semester last week, yet we have remained connected through a lively email string. Regularly we share words of encouragement as we pray for Elizabeth, the 37-year-old daughter-in-law of our classmate, who began her first round of chemo on Monday for advanced colon cancer. "I want to tell you all how much your prayers and support for Elizabeth mean for all of us," wrote our friend. [...]
When Life Feels Weighty
Good morning... When I walk and talk with one dear friend, she often notices stray worms inching aimlessly across the surface of the sidewalk. Gently, consistently she picks up every lost worm she sees, placing each in the familiarity of the soil beneath the soft green grass. "I know you love caring for stray worms," I wrote her last week. "Here is a poem for you by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer." ****** On a [...]
Soul Friends Surround Us
Good morning... In good times and in bad, "soul friends" surround us. We are God-with-skin-on to one another. It's as if the Holy Spirit-in-me and the Holy Spirit-in- you enjoy life-giving conversations. Yesterday in our final Friday morning class, we revisited a favorite quote about what it means to be a "soul friend." ****** Excerpt from Simple Faith by Margaret Silf, pages 47-48 Our Celtic forebears, who founded Christian communities in Ireland and [...]