Good morning... As we got together for lunch and caught up on each others' lives, one friend said, "Sue, you look really tired." Part of me felt a bit offended, "Do I really look that bad?" Then the rest of me began to unload. I told my friends I am exhausted from pushing to finish another graduate school paper, [...]
Good morning... I have a good friend who explores the meaning of "spirit animals," so when my weird dream included a pampered guinea pig in a king-sized bed, I thought to myself, "What do guinea pigs symbolize?" Sure enough, there are several websites on such topics, so I asked God, "What do You want to teach me through this [...]
Good morning... A small portion of my dream focused on a beige colored guinea pig surrounded by cozy pillows. Near the padded headboard of a spacious king sized bed, this cute, cuddly creature was comfortably resting. At peace, totally dependent on her Caregiver, this unique being was lavished with everlasting love. Rest. Depend. Receive lavish love. A guinea pig's [...]
Good morning... Time is a gift. Do we know this truth deeply, in the pit of our soul? Some events in life become wisdom's unexpected teachers. Like surviving an accident or slowly healing after tragedy. Like expecting a newborn or being bedside with a dying loved one. Like last year's cancer diagnosis stunning our friend Lara and the wisdom [...]
Good morning... Recently I was re-introduced to a prayer I love. Patient Trust Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it [...]
Good morning... As we walked around the horse farm at an early morning hour, my friend said the same sentence that had woken me from sleep. "You forgot two holes." She and the Holy Spirit were exactly right, in my post yesterday, "Five holes in our head," I forgot to mention that we each have two nostrils. Revealing a [...]
Good morning... In class, I made an observation, "God gave us two ears and one mouth. I think He designed us to listen twice as much as we talk." One woman leaving our study said, "I never thought about that, but it is so true. I cannot envision how two mouths would work on my face!" When I reflected [...]
Good morning... Prayerfully reflecting on our intimate conversation, God exposed my own fearful coping mechanism. In the face of tearful, grieving pain, I talked too much. I took up too much space in the room. Stuck in my head, I rambled on. An excessive amount of words poured out of my mouth, as I tried to explain God's big [...]
Good morning... A mutation is a a sudden departure from the parent type, the act or process of changing, an alteration in form or nature. A variation or evolution. A modification or transformation. Grief forces a sudden departure from the "parent type" of our old, cohesive normal. The messy process of change rudely interrupts our routine agenda. Our very [...]
In talking with grieving friends this week, I see so many variations in the way people respond to the messy mutant forms of missing. Some cry uncontrollably, others cannot shed a tear. Some isolate in a self-made cave, others feel compelled to remain regularly in touch. Some slow their pace to sense sorrow and joy intermixing, others avoid feeling [...]
