Good morning... A group of us from our extended church family have been widening our sense of community as we go to PAWkids on Monday afternoons to help young students with their homework, one-on-one. When I read Nouwen's meditation yesterday morning, my soul nodded in agreement before jumping with joy. ****** DAILY MEDITATION | NOVEMBER 18, 2021 - [...]
Good morning... Men and women, black and white, younger and older, we unpack our mixed feelings in our therapeutic community group each Tuesday morning at PAWkids. Last week we were each deeply touched by a film clip from the 2017 movie Wonder. "Why am I so ugly?" the tearful boy asks. "Honey, listen. We all have marks on [...]
Good morning... Adrift. She shares her truth. In so many important ways, my soul friend feels adrift. She has moved away from what has long been her church home. She has lost trust in a minister with whom she shares a deep, rich history. She feels kicked out of her extended family, a pain intensifying as the holidays [...]
Good morning... I just woke from a dream, short and intriguing. My husband had forgotten to tell me that there was a large plastic container in our backyard with a huge pile of leaves beside it. He had spent hours raking the leaves in our yard, and he expected me to somehow transfer the leaves into this big [...]
Good morning... "Discernment is first of all a habit, a way of seeing that eventually permeates our whole life," explains our post from yesterday, Angels Among Us. "It is the journey from spiritual blindness (not seeing God anywhere or seeing him only where we are expecting to see him) to spiritual sight (finding God everywhere, especially where we [...]
Good morning... In our Friday study, we read these words aloud from Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives For Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. Recently I spent time with our daughter's soccer team at the beginning of a practice devoted to watching game films. We discussed the importance of game films and how it gives them an opportunity [...]
Good morning... "Hi Sue," she wrote. "I have fully experienced how close the Lord has been in my grief, and no doubt, He alone has saved me. I do feel like He is blessing me tremendously and showing me tremendous favor as I begin to live again after Dalton’s death 5 1/2 years ago. Still so fresh." "However, [...]
Good morning... "Dear Sue, I hope you are doing well," she emailed after yesterday's post, The Blessing Hidden In Grief. "I miss our walks but returning to my position at school fills my days. My students are wonderful. Teaching them fills my heart with joy, and I’m so grateful for this bridge to whatever comes next in my [...]
Good morning... "Now with the Awake To Wholeness retreat behind us, might we celebrate your birthday season?" I texted a friend. (As I reflect, I realize that "behind" is the wrong word. It is more accurate to say, "Now with the retreat inside us, might we celebrate?") "And . . . I thoroughly enjoyed retelling the Saturday experience [...]
Good morning... "Every time our ordinary life bumps up against an unavoidable loss, there are choices to be made," concluded our blog post yesterday morning, Our Passage To New Life. "Will we allow the loss we are currently facing to be a passage to something new, something wider, something deeper? Like the Israelites following God's lead out of [...]
