Our Pathway Toward Peace
Good morning... Reflecting back over this first week in October, I see the love of God fanning out like a rainbow. I notice James 1:27 (MSG) taking up more real estate at the center of our soul. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world. Last weekend and all through [...]
Which Way Will You Go?
Good morning... "It seems to me that the human race, all of us, are being given the choice of two ways," says John Halsey. "We can go one way, which is ploughing along the road of power, trampling on people, barking like a dog, the way the people in my firm treated their workers. If you choose to go that way, it leads eventually to the bomb and disfiguration and unimaginable horror. The [...]
Courage Is Rekindled
Good morning... I revisited. I reworked. I reimagined yesterday's blog post. I revisited, reworked, reimagined with God for a very long time. (If you feel drawn, please check out the new version of The Fence Around My Heart). Then I opened up the Wednesday blessing from author Kate Bowler, a prayerful email waiting for my time and attention. "And rekindle a tenderness in my own uncertain heart," her honest prayer concludes, "for my [...]
The Fence Around My Heart
Good morning... There is a woman I am having a really hard time with. We experience life very differently. As much as I see the green in a space, she sees the yellow. I love art, poetry, creative expression. She prefers facts, details, everything adding up rationally. I love the fun of finding fallen feathers. She doesn't like birds, aren't they unsanitary? I'm a Holy Spirit in-the-moment girl. She is quite efficient, crossing [...]
There’s Power In Our Pencils
Good morning... Through our early morning blog post, yesterday began with a Mother Teresa quote: "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world." By mid-morning a friend wrote from Jacksonville, Florida: "Sue, I wanted you to know that I am hosting a prayer vigil for my friend at 6pm today and will share the beautiful Margaret Silf quote you shared [...]
Sending A Love Letter
Good morning... "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world," said Mother Teresa. I adore this thought. I am. Little. Pencil. Held in God's hand. The steady hand of a writing God. God is sending a love letter through me. A love letter addressed to the whole wide world. Like guiding the movement of a common, number two pencil, God [...]
Erased By Today’s Tides
Good morning... "Gift from the Sea is a book by Anne Morrow Lindbergh first published in 1955," explains Wikipedia. "While on vacation on Florida's Captiva Island in the early 1950s, Lindbergh wrote the essay-style work by taking shells on the beach for inspiration and reflecting on the lives of Americans, particularly American women, in the mid-20th century. She shares her meditations on youth and age, love and marriage, peace, solitude, and contentment during [...]
Our Prayers Travel South And East
Good morning... As I take our dogs out in the middle of this dark night, our wind chimes sing loudly to the wild, swirling breeze. The erratic gusts brush my skin as my thoughts travel south to Florida, lifting on prayers those devastated by Hurricane Ian. Next my prayers travel east to the coast of Georgia and the Carolinas where people anxiously brace for this storm's potential impact. My prayers then travel back [...]
Helping Homeless Women
Good morning... In the wee, quiet hours of this night, I am drawn back to our blog post from yesterday, Steve's Message For This Week. It seems many of us can relate to the positive wisdom offered. With God, I spend time personalizing the list of biblical encouragements. With things going well for me during this life season, I take regular time to lift up a prayer of thanks (Psalm 146:1-2). I feel [...]
Steve’s Message For This Week
Good morning... I admire my husband who, about every three weeks, writes a devotional message for The Lovett School community, where he has been chaplain for over twenty-five years. I think this week's message is one of my favorites. I am hoping you might agree. ****** Chaplain Devotional for September 27th, 2022 by Steve Allen based on Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15, Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16 • Amos 6:1a, 4-7, Psalm 146 • 1 Timothy 6:6-19 [...]
We Add. God Multiplies.
Good morning... Almost flippantly, she said something really profound. I captured the Holy Spirit wisdom in my blank journal. "We try to add and add and add," she commented, "but God multiplies magically." Just as you cannot understand the path of the wind or the mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things (Ecclesiastes 11:5, NLT). Might we just [...]
New Ideas Feel Like Sunrise
Good morning... After a fun filled weekend, God just woke me from sleep around 1:00 am, nudging me to read two emails which waited patiently in my inbox. "As you know we are studying Discerning the Voice of God by Priscilla Shirer," wrote a loyal leader of our Banquet Bible study, the longest running study at Northside Church, a group that has blessed so many women over the past twenty-some years. "Working on [...]