Good morning... "Hi, Sue," she wrote. "It’s been a trying morning, so reading this gave me hope. Check out this profound paragraph below — 'My ancestors did not survive the Trail of Tears because…' I am embracing the thoughts of inclusivity instead of exclusivity today." ****** Excerpt from Steven Charleston's Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder's Meditations [...]
Good morning... I smile at this framed cross-stitch saying my mom made for me a few years back. During the pandemic pause, my mom watched from afar as our ministry to women continued to thrive, mainly through our interactive daily blog posts and through individually scheduled walk-and-talks, outside, one-on-one, social distanced. When my 58th birthday came around in [...]
Good morning... "What are you doing with this unreturned library book from Wellington, Florida?" my husband wisely asked as we were cleaning out our messy office. Of course, amid all the discarded used cookbooks, I had been drawn to this quirky paperback on the cluttered shelf at Goodwill. On the front, an image of a handcrafted flower. On [...]
Good morning... "I just read a beautiful essay on the need to slow down in the face of crisis," my friend emailed me yesterday, "because it’s not possible to do 'drive-by contemplation' — or 'drive-by loving.' I will send you this message…..because I know you will resonate with that phrase 'drive-by loving.' No such thing, either, as 'drive-by [...]
Good morning... "When we say to people, 'I will pray for you,' we make a very important commitment," observes Henri Nouwen on page 86 of The Way of the Heart. "The sad thing is that this remark often remains nothing but a well-meant expression of concern. But when we learn to descend with our mind into our heart, [...]
Good morning... "Silence guards the inner heat," writes Nouwen on page 45 in The Way of the Heart. "This inner heat is the life of the Holy Spirit within us. Thus, silence is the discipline by which the inner fire of God is tended and kept alive." Nouwen continues: "Diadochus of Photiki offers us a concrete image: 'When [...]
Good morning... This week the Summer Zoom Study group completed our first book, Henri Nouwen's The Way of The Heart. Thoroughly enjoying this read, we discovered several fascinating, new insights. One nugget of nourishment is found on page 63: "The Desert Fathers did not think of solitude as being alone, but as being alone with God. They did [...]
Good morning... My friend has a cat who companions her beautifully. Our little dog is a lot like her cat. Our precious pets teach us so much about love, about life, about God's gentle presence. I was recently nudged to email my friend: "This poem made me think of you, rocking with your cat curled on your lap, [...]
Good morning... Ginny Owens is a blind singer who relies on God as her vision. "Owens was born in Jackson, Mississippi, with poor eyesight and has been blind since the age of three," says Wikipedia. In her own words, Ginny explains her situation: "I inherited everything from cataracts to glaucoma to just several things that were not great. [...]
Good morning... Many were touched by the song in yesterday's post, What Lies Ahead? A variety of people wrote to me privately in response. (Some people are facing a grueling cancer journey with loved ones, others are being reshaped by the impact of Alzheimers, and still others are facing various forms of loss, grief, pain.) As the days [...]
