Prayer

So many people I know are living through some excruciating things. A number of them are grappling whole-heartedly with grief over death,  seeking to honor the space they need for all the emotions while simultaneously receiving the task to relearn their world. It is hard work to live with integrity and integration amid loss. The…

  Think for a moment about a time in your life when everything went according to plan.  I’ll wait for you to stop laughing…. So begins God, Improv, and the Art of Living. Thanks, MaryAnn…It’s been water to my soul in recent weeks. Changing my life, really…..Please, please read this book, friends. Life doesn’t really go the…

For all of us in the messy middle of something…..   *** Slow and Steady God, Things have changed, and I know they’re not done changing.   I’m here on your potter’s wheel where you’re shaping my essence into something new with your guiding, loving hands.   But this messy middle time…. it’s painful, and…

  This past Monday was the fifth anniversary of the Boston marathon bombing. I ran that race on my 28thbirthday. It was an exhilarating day that ended in horror. The height of humanity’s enduring spirit sidled by the depth of humanity’s pain. I wrote about my experience here…. I haven’t seen the movies made about it….

A blessed Good Friday to each of you, my friends. I am grateful to be writing after some long radio silence – sick kids, meaningful visits from loved ones, new baby developmental milestones that equaled wonky sleep around here, and the like (I forgot how the ability to stand up and cruise around in a…

Great Love and Loving One,   I look around me…   How I crave your true and powerful and unifying (of the deepest kind) love.   More than a Valentine’s Day love….   I look around….   Seeking your gritty, steady love that humbles itself into gracious relationship. That lays down to listen.   I…

  Let’s make room today. Let’s clear out what we’ve been using to numb or avoid or block. Let’s trust that in the quiet, open space there is healing. And then let’s listen…. *** Patient, Gentle, God,   I can be so afraid of emptiness.   There are so many ways to stuff out the…

We are half-way through December and I wonder how your heart is faring. Winter’s taken a dramatic dive into colder temps and snow (at least in Chicagoland), and I think our inner soul landscape often feels the effect of that. The stretching hours of darkness and frigidity the earth now endures reminds me we often…

I have missed you! I have missed this! We welcomed our precious Simon Thomas Lehn in the wee hours of the morning on June 17th. We couldn’t be more grateful for this miracle in our household. At the same time, the transition – especially in the first couple months – was extremely exhausting and heart-wrenching….

Summer blessings, my friends. I hope and pray the earth’s greening and pending shifts in life routine are creating some breathing space in your soul. I am now 36 weeks pregnant.  I feel it. Eden arrived at 37 1/2 weeks, and so there’s a chance this will be my temporary “signing-off” prayer for a period of…

Lord Jesus,   How blessed I am to have your love, your peace, your reassurance – you give me the comfort I need to live my hardest days.   How blessed I am, God, to have your strength, your courage, your self-control – you give me the determination I need to make tough decisions and…

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – God has made all things beautiful in their time…. Timing…. It impacts everything, doesn’t it? We can have a clear picture of what we want/need to happen in our lives, but find ourselves at a standstill because of timing. You’ve probably heard the quote, too, that “the right thing at the wrong…