Good morning... Walk. Bunt. Balk. These words fill my phone this morning. Bases load. Strike out. Home run. All of my years (from ages fourteen to twenty-two) of scoring little league, softball, and baseball for our hometown recreation department came in quite handy last night. Full count. Pop fly. Wild pitch. An avid baseball fan, my friend with cancer [...]
Good morning... I was on an elliptical machine in the hotel fitness room in Asheville, N.C. when my phone signaled her group text. Throughout the day, five of us Bible study friends had been texting support, encouraging our friend whose ten year old daughter was undergoing her six month scans for the cancer she has battled for the past five [...]
Good morning... Twenty-nine years ago today, I woke up in Ohio on my wedding day. Excitement and nerves. Family and friends. Fears and hopes. I woke to it all. I remember getting my hair done after taking a mid-morning nap, being surrounded by the special people who had influenced my first twenty-four years, and soaking up hugs and good [...]
Good morning... We wait in solitude and silence, beginning to feel God's answers emerging. Dallas Willard recommends, "Stay there long enough for the inner being to be different. Muddy water becomes clear if you only let it be still for a while." (The Divine Conspiracy, p 359) Dallas reveals an interesting phenomenon. I google: "How does still water become [...]
Good morning... As I deepen into my Spiritual Direction training program, I find myself marinating in the wise words of Dallas Willard found in The Divine Conspiracy. Here are some favorites quotes I have gathered in my notes. "The cure for too-much-to-do is solitude and silence, for there you find you are safely more than what you do. And [...]
Good morning... He said to me, "If I really want to talk with and listen to God, I have to get away with Him privately, for a big chunk of time." He likened it to my husband and me, "If you really want to talk with and listen to Steve, you would not do it in a crowded room [...]
Good morning... I opened my inbox to discover this email. "Dear Friends, We hope this letter finds you well. We're writing to bring you up to speed on some major life events that are occurring with us. After many fulfilling years together we have come to a place where we are moving in different directions and have decided to [...]
Good morning... With some people, it feels like a sin to "ask." Asking a question is like challenging authority. Asking for clarification means you are a bother. Asking about options can complicate matters and prolong a decision. With some people, asking for anything cracks the surface of their status quo and anger oozes out, messy and mean. This weekend, [...]
Good morning... I pick a few choice sentences from her handwritten card: "In thinking about those little birds, the goldfinches, I wonder how they feel about losing their beautiful feathers. Are they irritated? Do they feel like those of us with cancer who have lost their hair? Or, do they know that God intends more from them - more [...]
Good morning... At a high school graduation party last night, I met for the first time the husband of a Bible study friend. He was fascinating to talk with, authentic and faith filled. He shared with me how his first wife had died of breast cancer in her early thirties, a few years younger than he was at the [...]
