Good morning... It was not until the final week of class that I understood exactly why God had chosen The Book of Hygge for our Moms of Lovett Seniors Study. (Find the first words in the book quoted in yesterday’s post, Hygge: God’s Remedy.) Once we hosted our Awake To Wellness Women’s Retreat, a fresh insight dawned on me. [...]
Good morning... Always looking for the next book to teach, I mostly chose one book because it was short and simple, it had intriguing quotes and soulful pictures, and it was on the sale table at a local, eclectic store. I fell in love with the first words of the introduction: “Hygge (pronounced “hoo-gah”) is a quality of presence [...]
Good morning... “Stillness is not about focussing on nothingness; it’s about creating a clearing. It’s opening up an emotionally clutter-free space and allowing ourselves to feel and think and dream and question,” writes author Brene Brown on page 108 of The Gifts of Imperfection. Stillness. Create a clearing. Open up emotionally. Protect clutter-free inner space. Allow feeling, thinking, dreaming, [...]
Good morning... I am deeply grateful pianist Dana Cunningham sent us another one of the poems she read aloud to us at our Awake To Wellness Women’s Retreat. In the nest of right now, create a clutter-free inner space for William’s words to resonate in your soul. ****** You Reading This, Be Ready by William Stafford You Reading This, [...]
Good morning... Extremely grateful, I thanked store owner, Lisa, at The Front Porch of Vining for sharing with us a combination of donated and purchased items from her new fresh market for our recent retreat. Two large flower arrangements with an adorable one thrown in. Local pies and yummy pecans. Gift basket and a "Happy Spring" display. Chocolates and cheese [...]
Good morning... “I must die like a kernel of wheat that falls into the furrows of the earth,” says our friend Jesus in John 12:24, (TLB). “Unless I die, I will be alone, a single seed. But my death will produce many new wheat kernels - a plentiful harvest of new lives.” Seeking to fend off death, we want [...]
Good morning... As I sit on my back porch at this time of the year, I see the color of new growth bursting on bare branches. Now and forever, I will call this light, bright color “Julie Green.” One year ago today, 42-year-old Julie Harlan died, a loving wife and mother, a loyal daughter and sister, a long-time friend [...]
Good morning... “Hello newly beloved friends of the heart,” wrote soulful pianist and poetry-memorizer Dana Cunningham. “I am attaching the poems I either recited or read during our Awake To Wellness Retreat time, now a week in our past memory but still alive with fire and verve. I wish you all a joyous, glorious Easter weekend, which I will [...]
Good morning... I absolutely love that the brightness of tonight's full moon sky coincides with the seal-off mystery of the dank, dark tomb. For Jesus' dead body wrapped in burial attire, for you and for me wrapped in our own dark cocoons, God lights our hope. We each whisper in awed wonder: "...even in darkness I cannot hide from you. To [...]
Good morning... To commemorate Good Friday, we consider deeply the death of Christ captured in Mark 15:33-39 (NIV). At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?”(which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). When [...]
