Good morning... Right now, I sense God’s Spirit whispering: “Celebrate all of life’s seasons with Me.” Letting go of our own efforts to “just let go,” we begin to trust deeply God’s unsettling promise. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so [...]
Good morning... I encouraged myself to "just let go" of all the old stuff, to wipe the slate clean, to let bygones be gone. But as my pen prayed on the journal page, I unearthed a long litany of leftovers. I expressed everything completely, spoke my truth honestly. Having written out the last morsel in me, I felt at [...]
Good morning... I had journaled profusely since I was twenty-five years old, but I had never shared my writing with others until after our uprooting move in 2003. Being hired at Northside Church in the spring of 2006, for ten straight years I wrote a new manuscript, we self-published a book, and each Mother's Day morning we handed out [...]
Good Morning... Strangely, as I have felt more settled in the life of God’s choosing, I have also felt more frightened. I am afraid that the sacred cycle of life will force me again to forfeit the abundance I currently enjoy. A death to one dear to me. A dreaded diagnosis. Another descent into the darkness of depression. Honestly, [...]
Good morning... "I'm LOVING your posts on tears," wrote one subscriber. "The psalm verse from yesterday's message has been a favorite. I clung to it through my divorce tears." Her written words continued. "Fun fact: tears caused by pain, when tested, are full of stress hormones; tears when cutting an onion are not. Tears are physically helpful in pain [...]
Good morning... Our family’s life-changing move from PA to GA happened fifteen years ago next month. Over those extended years the seedling of my true self has settled into this southern soil, growing roots, sprouting more, spreading seeds. But I will never forget the beginning stages of my journey toward wholeness. When my dream-life was first uprooted, the seed [...]
Good morning... Over the phone, my faraway friend saw into my seasoned soul, reflecting back my deepest truths (see yesterday's post Our Community of Trees). I am settling into a place I never wanted to be planted. God is growing in me a gift, the gift of expressing the invisible things none of fully understand. My trust is growing stronger [...]
Good morning... "I learned the coolest thing about trees," a friend from afar said over the phone. My ears perked up and my curiosity sparked. So, I got out a pen to amplify her insights, recording her thoughts in my royal blue journal, a journal which just happened to be named "Heart of the Tree Journal." This is roughly what [...]
Good morning... "In the human world, abundance does not happen automatically," writes Parker Palmer on pages 107. "It is created when we have the sense to choose community, to come together to celebrate and share our common store. Whether the scarce resource is money or love or power or words, the true law of life is that we generate [...]
Good morning... After reading yesterday's post, God's G.R.A.C.E. Travels, she sent me a brief, beautiful email: "Sue. You are a creator of community. Thank you for that." Then she forwarded me another devotional message she had received that morning. ***** Reality Is Communion - Richard Rohr, Sunday, May 6, 2018 In the beginning God says, “Let us make humanity in our [...]
