Quiet The Voice Of Despair
Good morning... She shared this reading out loud with us. By the end, her eyes were wet with tears. ****** The voice of despair says, “I sin over and over again. After endless promises to myself and others to do better next time, I find myself back again in the old dark places. Forget about trying to change. I have tried for years. It didn’t work and it never will work. It is [...]
I Didn’t Like It
Good morning... I love the healing rituals we do while on retreat. Usually, that is. Usually, I love each wise healing ritual. But yesterday, as instructed, I blindly picked out a rock from a soft bags of stones, and I didn't like it. I didn't like the engraved stone randomly resting in my hand. Other people picked rocks with great words. Hope. Pray. Breathe. Imagine. But I didn't like the small stone staring [...]
15 Bags Of Abundant Love
Good morning... In response to our recent blog post Helping Homeless Women, our written word community joyfully created 15 bags of abundant love. The bags will be placed in private rooms to welcome the women recovering from homelessness and addiction as they arrive this morning for our overnight retreat at Ignatius House Retreat Center. The blossoming of these bags has been quite a sight to see. The woman who volunteered to donate the [...]
A Gentle Bend In Our Road
Good morning... My friend hosted a stay-at-home sleepover party for the three of us last night. One of us has just turned seventy, the hostess and myself are turning sixty in the coming months. We each are negotiating a gentle bend in the road beneath our feet, shifting from one decade to another. In the middle of the night I woke, but since I had forgotten to ask for the internet password, I [...]
Sign Up For PAWkids Opportunities
Good evening... For those who live in Atlanta, I don't want you to miss signing up for our PAWkids opportunities this fall. I realize that yesterday's post ended with the sign up links, but the blog title didn't indication the invitation. I'm including the links again, under a more direct title. If you have an interest in PAWkids, please text me any questions at 404-401-8317 or sign up directly for these volunteer opportunities. [...]
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 [...]