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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Good morning... God's timing is interesting. During this tremendously difficult week, "Dark Emotions" is the name of the chapter we are discussing in Learning to Walk in the Dark by Barbara Brown Taylor. Dark emotions. Fear. Despair. Sadness. We don't like them. In their presence, our natural tendency is to run and hide. Avoid. Deny. Yet Barbara encourages [...]
Good morning... Sitting in silence with God and each other, we "come to rest" at a deeper, wider place within our soul. Prayerfully living from our innermost self, we are invited to gather around a common table. One of my favorite poets pulls up a chair and helps us to grieve deep losses together. ****** Only a Few [...]
Good morning... Some darkness is so very dark, we are rendered speechless. A friend in our Friday group shared this Thomas Merton quote before terrorists slaughtered innocents in Israel. When I am liberated by silence, when I am no longer involved in the measurement of life, but in the living of it, I can discover a form of [...]
Good morning... Can you imagine my joy seeing my mom's joy as I received the photo above? A fun moment captured on the front porch of their villa and texted to me by my dad last week, my animated mother is pictured reading a book with her first great grandson and my sister. My 85-year-old mom has been [...]
