The next few weeks I am hosting a group of guest bloggers. These very special ladies all offered to help fill in while I check off an item from my bucket list: a pilgrimage to Scotland and England.Today my blogger friend, Lynn Mosher, joins us. A few months ago one of the posts she wrote really lingered in my heart and became one of my favorites. In fact I copied her prayer and added it to my morning devotions. With her permission we are reposting this post here today. I connected with Lynn though Jen Ferguson’s blog, FindingHeaven, and we are partners in one of Jen’s Soli Deo Gloria small groups. Getting to know her in this group has been such a pleasure. Being part of a small group that prays for one another is so encouraging.I have enjoyed getting to know Lynn and hope you will too. Married since 1966, Lynn is a wife, mother of three, sister, grandmother, and writer seeking to follow God’s will.Stop by her blog, Lynn Mosher, Devotions that Encourage, and stay awhile. I love her … [Read more...]
God’s Canopy
The next few weeks I am hosting a group of guest bloggers. These very special ladies all offered to help fill in while I check off an item from my bucket list: a pilgrimage to Scotland and England. Today my blogger friend, Katharine Barrett, joins us to talk about listening and learning. Katharine is from Canada and enjoys a good cup of coffee. I have enjoyed getting to know her and hope you will too.I connected with Katharine though Jen Ferguson’s blog, Finding Heaven , and we are partners in one of Jen’s Soli Deo Gloria small groups. Getting to know her in this group has been such a pleasure. Being part of a small group that prays for one another is so encouraging.Stop by her blog, Just a Thought, and stay awhile. You will be blessed! And check out her e-book, Grace and Fresh Ink, 52 Devotionals for theSeasons of Faith. Thanks for being here today, Katharine!God's CanopyIt’s almost time to put it away. I always feel sad when we take apart our garden swing and store it in the shed … [Read more...]
Pay Attention – Lectio Divina
We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.Hebrews 2:1Pay AttentionOK, Lord, I hear You.Everywhere I turn I read the words, “Pay Attention.”I hear them in sermons and notice them in conversations.The letters jump out from the Scriptures into my heart during my devotions.Friends write about taking notice in their blogs.Speakers mention being aware in their presentations.Pay attention. "Pay the most careful attention." I hear You, Lord. But to what?You gently answer, “Pay attention to what is right in front of you.”Pausing I look around me with unshielded eyes and an open heart. May I be more mindful when You speak to me in nature. Your love beams from the bright orange and yellow colors of fall. Your voice calls me in the crunch of fall leaves. I feel your smile as the squirrels scurry along the tree branches, busy with their autumn preparations.May I fully notice the people You bring to me: the unnamed, smile-less store clerk … [Read more...]
12 Quotes about Traveling
I have been and will be traveling quite a bit this month. Only fitting to share some great quotes about adventuring out into the world: 1. “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine2. “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”Henry Miller 3. ″A traveler without observation is a bird without wings.”Moslih Eddin Saadi 4. “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain5. “Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”Miriam Bears 6. “Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” Maya Angelou7. … [Read more...]
Sacred Space
Ever watch Hoarders on TV? When flipping through the channels if I see this show is on, I pause for a minute and remember.I had a relative who lived among ceiling high stacks of old newspapers, leftover food containers and over the top messy clutter. When I was a child, my mom told me what I would see so I wouldn’t freak out or say something out of turn, but nothing really prepared me for the sight. When we visited, we weaved our way through her living room like rats in a tunnel. There wasn’t any place to sit so I stood near my mom, never leaving her side. I looked at the overstuffed drawers filled with “I may need this someday items” and scattered wadded up notes taped to sides of cardboard boxes. When she offered me a drink all I could do is silently shake my head no, fearful of what could be lurking in the grimy kitchen.After we left, my mom laid her head on the steering wheel and cried. I know all I wanted to do was to shower. This lady was an intelligent, loving woman, but that … [Read more...]
Back to Basics – Loving the Daily Working
This Ignatius Life is one of my favorite blogs to read. I enjoy their world view and challenging posts.Last week the post titled “The Daily Working” by Michelle Franci-Donnay resonated with me. Here is a portion of what she wrote:“You have to love the daily working,” suggested choreographer Merce Cunningham. He was talking about what it took to be a dancer — not a teacher, researcher, writer, mother or contemplative, or in my case, all those things tangled into a single day. He meant you have to enjoy being crammed into a studio taking class with forty other students, that you have to delight in the doing of the hundred-thousandth plie. You have to be willing to lovingly and gratefully return to the basics each and every day, even — and perhaps most particularly — in the midst of chaos, or you cannot dance.”Dancing in the everyday nitty-gritty of life. For me this means finding the joy in the sometimes-tedious details of the life of a writer, a speaker, a retreat leader, a mother, a … [Read more...]
Children in Jesus’ Arms
And he took the children in his arms,placed his hands on themand blessed them.Mark 10: 16Children in his armsWhat a tender moment, Lord.You welcoming the littlest ones into Your kingdom.You pausing from the main task of the world to greet, bless and love children.Or did You really pause? Break from Your primary purpose?Or did You come to earth to wrap Your arms around each of us?To remind us You love and accept us as we are, immature, misbehaving, delightful children of God?Lord, let me rest in Your arms today.When the world crashes around me and buries me in its rubble of hate, misunderstandings, wars and lies, I need the peace found only in Your embrace.When fear takes my heart and angry occupies my mind, I run to You for Your healing touch.When my path is dark, confusing, and full of potholes and detours, Your hand gently guides me.May I spend the rest of my life, as a child, in Your embrace. … [Read more...]
Permission: Let Your Light Shine – Quote of the Week
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God … It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same."- Marianne Williamson … [Read more...]