SubscribeJuly 2011
Everyday Inspiration from Sonsyrea (0)
7/06/11 •
I was enjoying a power-walk one morning last week when I got a boost from an unexpected source. A woman on an adult-size tricycle commented on the slogan on my tee-shirt. “Each one teach one,” she said, reading the faded letters on my decade-old tee. “I taught for nine years. I think I reached one. [...]
Seeing God in unfamiliar places (0)
7/04/11 •
I followed the signs until I reached the meditation center in the Amsterdam airport. I wanted a quiet place to spend some time during my four-hour layover Sunday. And I wanted to see what the room looked like and who would be there. Two Catholic nuns sat at a small table in the entry reading [...]
Enjoying a divine evening sky (1)
7/01/11 •
The sky with its peachy-red shadings against gray clouds captured our attention. My walking partner and I defied the sound of distant thunder and the threat of rain and stepped briskly along the National Mall the other evening, knowing that we would not have another chance this week for our walk. As we often do, [...]
June 2011
Everyday Inspiration from Sonsyrea (0)
6/29/11 •
When I was growing up, one of my aunts said repeatedly, “Allah does not change the condition of a person until they change the condition of their heart.” We were Muslims, “poor,” as in financially struggling. My aunt was raising 12 children with her husband, living in public housing in Washington, D.C. The outside of [...]
Righteous Mind with Rev. Cynthia T. Turner (0)
6/24/11 •
Last night I bought a tired old woman some hotdogs so she could feed her child. That’s what she told me. Standing there in the narrow aisles of the Safeway in downtown Silver Spring, she interrupted my shopping and my phone conversation to whisper her situation to me. “Under normal circumstances,” she said, “I’d never [...]
Everyday Inspiration from Sonsyrea (1)
6/22/11 •
A few weeks ago I was rushing back from the store to catch a Joel Osteen sermon on TV, but my little patch of yard in front of the townhouse caught my attention. I decided to stop and pull weeds before going inside. In the next hour, as I pulled weeds, so many thoughts crossed [...]
Praying for my friends (2)
6/21/11 •
The urgency of the words from this morning’s devotional reading struck me. The last sentence especially caused me to pause when it urged: “Pray for your friends now; pray for those with whom you come in contact now.” The emphasis on now came from the passage not from me. I had finished my morning Scripture readings [...]
Seeking praying churches (1)
6/15/11 •
Ever since my prayer partner, Dietra, and I began asking churches to join the “52 Weeks of Prayer for Transformation in the Nation’s Capital” initiative, I have been amazed by what happens when churches come together and pray. As one pastor excitedly told me earlier this year fresh from a week of non-stop prayer, “my [...]
Abiding in the present moment (0)
6/08/11 •
I picked up my book, “Andrew Murray on Prayer” this morning, looking for something that would propel me pass this place where I am right now. My computer is slow; my office is toasty; I’m helping work out some details for my daughter’s trip back to China this summer; a prayer project I have been [...]
Half-way toward prayer goal (0)
6/02/11 •
Half-way points are intriguing places. They are the mid-way spots between do or don’t, go on or go back. They are places where one decision takes you to a new height and the other takes you back were you have been. That’s where I am now on my year-long quest to make prayer primary in [...]
May 2011
Memorial Day remembrances and prayers (3)
5/30/11 •
Memorial Day is and always has been more than just the unofficial start of summer and a day of beach-going and backyard barbecues. Its highest purpose is to honor military veterans who fought and died for our country. Today President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted a breakfast for families who lost loved ones on battlegrounds near [...]
Spring cleaning for house and soul (0)
5/25/11 •
A friend and I were talking about doing some house cleaning. Busy schedules had pushed some things off the must-do list that we both now recognize must be taken care of. For me, it’s my office where papers are once again taking over my desk and books are stacked everywhere. After a while, it’s hard [...]
Who says the end is coming May 21? (0)
5/20/11 •
Being a word person myself, I am much more partial to words that I am to numbers. I’ve spent lots of years avoiding dealing with the complexity of mathematical equations, abetted by a career in journalism. Give me words over numbers any day. This is just one of the reasons why I cannot wrap my [...]
Celebrating graduation days (0)
5/17/11 •
By the time we arrived at Paulson Stadium at Georgia Southern University, the commencement speaker was finishing up and the highlight for the 2,200 graduates was beginning. The stadium seats were packed, and people stood around the perimeter or sat on the grass eager to get a glimpse of their student walking across the stage. [...]
Seven ways to plant beauty in the world (0)
5/09/11 •
My husband smiles broadly and winks each time we walk out of front door now. “Look at them,” he says, turning his head toward the German Irises in the flowerbed framing our home. He planted the irises, along with Tiger Lilies, hostas and other perennials, about four years ago, and each Spring they all come back [...]
Praying on the National Day of Prayer (0)
5/05/11 •
Are you praying today for our country and its leaders? Are you observing the National Day of Prayer? Our country needs all the prayers we can muster on its behalf today and every day. If you haven’t already, pause for a few moments and ask for God’s blessings and protection for our land, for the [...]
Operation Persistent Prayer (1)
5/03/11 •
The celebration, thankfully, has waned, and more somber reflection and some second-guessing is taking place as more details come out about the death and burial at sea of uber-terrorist Osama bin Laden. Amid all of what has happened over the last 48 hours, I am left more than anything with an overwhelming sense for the [...]
April 2011
Of roots, weeds and Easter lilies (5)
4/26/11 •
A beautiful white Easter lily now brightens my living room, a leftover reminder of a day so special and Holy most malls stayed closed. The plant was one of several that flanked our church’s pulpit during our Resurrection Sunday services, bringing with them the fragrance of hope and the beauty of life renewed that enveloped my [...]
Jesus’s seven last sayings on the cross still resonating (0)
4/22/11 •
In the last hours of His life, while He was suffering greatly on the Cross, Jesus Christ didn’t talk much. He didn’t whine, accuse or rage against His abusers. Instead the Gospels tell us that during those painful dwindling moments of his 33-years on Earth, Jesus uttered just seven sayings. Over the years on Good [...]
Chinese Christians inspire commitment to follow Christ (0)
4/20/11 •
Someone sent me the link to this story about a church in Beijing that had been evicted from its place of worship and added the words “be inspired.” It is both an inspiring story and a somewhat troubling one for me as I enter Holy Week primed from weeks of uneven fasting and praying to reflect on the [...]
