Good morning... Those who have subscribed to our blog for a while now remember that in June, July, and August we revisit our favorite posts from the school year. Many of you share with me the titles of messages that have been most meaningful to you, I tally your responses, and I gift those words to the Creative Services [...]
Good morning... "I am grateful for not having to know in advance what God was planning for me," continues Henri Nouwen in the book I quoted in yesterday's post At Home With God. "But I am grateful as well for the new place that has been opened in me through all the inner pain." Nouwen continues: "I have a [...]
Good morning... God gives me space to connect the day's dots. I sit on our back porch eating chicken noodle soup, breathing in the breezy grey, admiring the dance of bushy green. Early I woke to a short and sweet email. "GRACE - another acronym I learned years ago: God's Riches At Christ's Expense." A few hours later, I [...]
Good morning... So many of us loved yesterday's post, She Let Go. Why are we so touched by this Ernest Holmes poem? Because we feel seen, known, and accepted, as we hide behind the bricks in our self-protective wall. Incessant thoughts. Too many words. Fears. Judgements. Swarming opinions. Our committee of indecision. All the "right" reasons. Hesitation. Worry. Conflicting [...]
Good morning... My friend's sleep was disturbed by obsessive feelings. Jealousy. Entitlement. Confusion. Rejection. Her voracious mind craved answers. Hash it out. Decide some details. Needing answers became a nightmare. Her mind went into overdrive until she read our post We Grow G.R.A.C.E. She texted me her middle-of-the-night realization: "I took a little trip away from GRACE." Moving back [...]
Good morning... "Sue - love your post this morning," she texted me yesterday at 6:29 am after reading We Grow G.R.A.C.E. "I woke up having a terrible night sleep because I felt feelings of envy, jealousy, entitlement, confusion, and rejection about a situation in my life. And all this felt out of the blue after having a great, full, [...]
Good morning... At our final Friday gathering of the semester, we shared the memorable words, quotes, and insights we loved best from Parker Palmer's Let Your Life Speak. In the course of our life-giving conversation, one of the women told us of an acronym her minister had recently shared. "Some asked me to repeat," she emailed later, "so here it [...]
Good morning... Yesterday in Sunday School, we unpacked the middle portion of the Apostles Creed. Considering the various valley times in our lives, we processed the three portions of our life-changing "check mark" experiences. Descending into hell. Waiting in the tomb for three grueling days. Ascending high into heaven in oneness with God. Each time tragedy strikes, this three-step [...]
Good morning... Prayerfully pondering what wisdom to unpack with the Genesis Class this morning, words from the recesses of my mind bubble up from the Apostles Creed, words we recited collective every week as I grew up as a child in the Lutheran Church. Jesus "descended into hell. The third day he rose from the dead; he ascended into heaven, [...]
Good morning... As we drove through the valleys and the mountains of New Zealand, we had long, important talks, enjoyed good music together, and listened to a handful of interesting podcasts. I was so fascinated by one podcast that I sat in the backseat and jotted notes in my journal. Turning to those scratchings now, I put flesh on [...]
