Good morning... When we left my mom in the ICU, it was a blustery late March evening with light snowflakes swirling in the Ohio air. There was a strand of hope frozen in our minds: mom had opened her eyes for about five minutes. Then she had drifted away from us again. Sustained by the ventilator, her body [...]
Good morning... "It will be good for us all to be together," my sister said as I booked a one-way ticket to Cleveland, Ohio to be with my 83-year-old mom in the ICU. "We may need to make some hard end of life decisions." The reality was sobering. I had begun the normal day facilitating our Friday class [...]
Good morning... Unexpectedly waking at dawn near Cleveland, Ohio, I shed quiet tears beside the bay window in my parents' villa. As I look out on their continuum of care community, gloomy rain turns to gentle, white snowflakes on this memorable late March morning. Soon we will visit my mom in the ICU, wondering whether her loving life [...]
Good morning... Wrapped beneath a cozy blanket, I nestle alone on the outdoor couch below our back porch. With my ear to my phone, I savor the four familiar voices on our monthly call. After the silence of our opening prayer, one friend reads aloud a poem. What a quietly transformational place to begin. ****** Hide and Seek [...]
Good morning... This baffled woman surrounded by a wide variety of delicious possibilities represents the way I feel the morning after my fun filled birthday: "I don't remember the name, but it had a taste that I liked." I couldn't possibly name all of the nuanced ways God's love pours through you to me yesterday. Just like a [...]
Good morning... "Hi there," yesterday I texted a dear friend I have enjoyed quality time with for nearly thirty years. "I have our birthday season lunch on my calendar. What time do you want to meet at our special spot?" "Argh," she replied immediately, "was just going to write you. Spent five hours in Kaiser Urgent Care yesterday. [...]
Good morning... I have continued to think about a random quote shared in our supervision group last week. "There are a lot of people who work for God and very few who actually work with God." Changing just one word makes all the difference. What might it mean for us to work with God rather than working for [...]
Good morning... During our Friday morning class, we wondered together how we ordinary people might actually hear the guiding voice of God. Enlivening our discussion, one of our classmates told us a true story. Lake Blue Ridge is a thin place for this friend, a sacred spot where heaven and earth seem seamlessly bound. On one of her [...]
Good morning... After texted about My Rough Re-entry, my friend responded with life-giving words. "You are carrying the load," she noticed, "yoking with so many." "This morning I read a Kate Bowler devotional (my Lenten practice) from _Good Enough_," my friend explained. "She wrote about this idea: Sometimes there are two selves - a 2:00 am self (the [...]
Good morning... It can be hard to re-enter life's normal rhythm after being swept up into mountaintop moments. Personally, quietly, my re-entry has been rough. Sharing my truth, I found myself texting a friend in the middle of the night. "I am taking my time re-entering the rhythm of life following our ten day trip through Israel," I [...]
