Good morning... Over the phone a friend shared with me a quote she had just happened upon. "When I wake up in the morning," EB White once said, "I can't decide whether to enjoy the world or improve the world, that makes it difficult to plan the day." My friend went on to think out loud. "I can easily [...]
The more we pray, talking honestly with God about the challenges of our daily lives, the more we want to pray. Somehow our creative release is met with a peace that passes human understanding and we are empowered to do the next hard thing. When another difficulty presents itself, we find ourselves praying sooner and more passionately, and God [...]
Good morning... For over thirty years, I have written in a journal most every day. A journal has been with me through our four years of infertility, grieving our four miscarriages. A journal has been with me through four full-term pregnancies and four natural childbirths. A journal has walked with me down the valley of depression and up the [...]
Good morning... A passing comment by Dr. Cathy Snapp at our Awake To Wellness Women’s Retreat unloosened an important memory, floating it to the top of my conscious awareness before forming it into yesterday’s post, Feeling Healing. Cathy said something like this: “Sometimes I envision Jesus putting his hands on my head, sending light into my brain, loosening my [...]
Good morning... During our Spiritual Direction training program, our visiting professor Jan Johnson called me forward. She invited me to sit in a chair in front of the whole class. Jan stood beside me, leaning in close, gently laying her hands on my head, softly stroking my hair, as she slowly recited the 23rd Psalm from the Message translation. [...]
Good morning... “Genuine transformational knowing of self always involves encountering and embracing previously un-welcomed parts of self,” says depth psychologist and beloved author David Benner. “While we tend to think of ourselves as a single, unified self, which we call “I” is really a family of many part-selves. That in it self is not a particular problem. The problem [...]
Good morning... “Most of us who are searching for spiritual connection spend too much time looking up at the sky and wondering why God is so far away,” says Brene Brown on page 112 of The Gifts of Imperfection. “God lives within us, not above us. Sharing our gifts and talents with the world is the most powerful source [...]
Good morning... I woke to a short, intriguing email from my 22 year old son. He wrote: "Interesting 8 minute audio clip, 'What's the Last Thing You Would Tweet?' Curious what you think about it, and what your final 140 character message might be." I touched on the link and read through John Piper's thought process as he decided [...]
Good morning... As she cut my hair, I read the tattoo on the underside of her left arm: “The happiest girls are the prettiest,” says the tattoo on the underside of her left arm. I thought to myself, “That statement is actually quite biblical.” Proverbs 15:13a (NLT) says simply: “A glad heart makes a happy face.” The second half [...]
Good morning... “I try to be slow to respond and quick to think,” says beloved author and human behavior researcher Brene Brown. “I also stay very mindful about the effect that calm has on an anxious person or situation. A panicked response produces more panic and more fear. As psychologist and writer Harriet Lerner says, ‘Anxiety is extremely contagious, [...]
