Sunday, June 29, 2025

Dear God,

How much I have missed you!  Taking care of my ailing husband, picking berries and preserving them and problem solving with our house, computers and phones, I have moved aside and done other things.  Our special time, yours and mine, has just simmered but not boiled in two weeks.  I am glad to be back.

What I learned these last 14 days is that you never moved.  You were always waiting for me and although I didn't really know it was happening, you reminded me of your presence every day.  When the rain came down one day, it was like grace and love falling from heaven.  When I was overwhelmed, exhausted and grumbling as I drove to the pharmacy for medications, I heard you whisper, "You need a new song."  Within seconds I was singing aloud, "When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot, thou has taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul.  It is well; it is well with my soul, with my soul.  It is well; it is well with my soul."  On another day a sweet idea came for a Christmas ornament I want to make for a mission cause.  Of course, there were many more but these just came to my mind.  Every single time, I recognized you and was so very thankful.

No one holds onto us like you, O God, no one.  No one waits, no one loves, no one gives like you.  The scenes and the awareness were and still are gifts that appeared these last days while I was away.  My heart overflows with gratitude.

You are God;

there is none

like you.

Thank you

for waiting,

for appearing

and for loving.

I am blessed.

Yours forever, Andrea

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Dear God,

We must fight injustice.  We must tend to the hurting lambs.  We must help our neighbor and the stranger near and far.  We must act as community, a group of people who care for one another and want what is best for each and all.  To not act for all is to become fractured, arrogant and elitist.

Right now, there are evil forces at work in the world trying hard to destroy democracy, the right to life, hope and peace.  There is forced chaos and conflict, a desire to overtake what is not theirs to take.  We are being robbed of what is good, honorable and beautiful.

There is so much at stake and we are each called to some purpose to join in the fight to restore compassion, acceptance, love, kindness and truth.  

Help us,

O God,

to do

what you

call us

to do.

Lead us

in the way

of righteousness.

Help us 

always lean

on you.

Love, Andrea

Saturday, June 14, 2025

Dear God,

It is so much easier to hold onto hatred and bitterness when horrible things are happening in the world.  In fact, it is fed by more and more ugliness when peace and hope are being taken away from good people.  I know because I am guilty.  Yet, I keep hearing this tiny whisper, an eternal voice who invites me to give it to that One voice who reminds us who we are.

You do not let us remain in these vile feelings, O God, because you know the power it has to destroy.  When first you made us, you infused us with love, courage, faith, resiliency and hope.  You gave us the ability and power to overcome, to conquer and to surrender all that holds us back from who the best of us is.  It is like a shepherd making a lamb, loving it, holding it when it is hurt, healing it and setting it back on its feet.  Sometimes we simply forget who we are.

Holy God,

remind us

who you

made us

to be.

It is hard,

especially now.

Hold our feet

on solid,

holy ground,

we pray.

Love, Andrea

Friday, June 13, 2025

Dear God,

On this gray, rainy day there is no one I want to spend time with more than you.  These early morning conversations always give me joy.  As raindrops slide down the windows, I am warm inside sitting with you.

Over the course of 20 years, we have shared this prized time.  This particular time came as a result of a Lilly Clergy Renewal Grant awarded to my church and me in 2005.  Entitled, What Will Make My Heart Sing?, I responded with my narrative A Journey with God.  During those three and a half months traveling first to New Mexico and then to France, Italy, England and Ghana, I ended the renewal leave in Maine.  

Each day I sat down wherever I found myself and could find an internet connection and wrote you a letter, always from the heart, filled with gratitude for every gift, grace and discovery.  You and I were sweet together as we experienced so much every single day.  We traveled to spend time with St. Francis of Assisi, Michaelangelo, St. Terese of Lisieux and many others.  I was overwhelmed with spiritual wonders, gracious insights, pearls of wisdom, surprise visits and rare gems of faith.  Every day through these special intimate moments we spoke and listened sharing so many marvelous things.  Indeed, my heart sang like it never sang before.  I will always cherish those moments keeping them close to my heart.

Thank you,

Loving God,

for gifts

beyond measure.

Thank you

that we 

still have

these moments

day after day.

Thank you

for this

rainy morning

where I

am thinking

of you.

Love always, Andrea

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Dear God,

There are millions who are hurting from famine, violence, public policy decisions, estrangement, sickness and so much more.  So much could be done to change the environment and help people.  So much.  We could become family to our neighbors sharing a kind word, a meal and affirmation.  We could fight to bring liberation and freedom to so many.  We could lay down our weapons of words, hatred and vitriol.  We could love our neighbor as ourself.  O God, so many could be helped.

How do we break the desire for power and greed?  How do we return to love, hope and faith?  How do we lift up instead of tear down?

Holy God,

all are

your children.

All need

your help

and ours.

Open our hearts.

Rid us

of all

that harms

our neighbor

near and far.

Let love flow

to every person,

I pray.

Love, Andrea

Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Dear God,

Strawberries are waiting to be picked at the farm.  Year after year they return.  Although plants were withered and brown in the winter, miraculously, it seems, the plants grow again, turn green, blossom and produce luscious, red fruit at harvest time.

Oftentimes we forget to wait for the miracle that longs to take place.  We think there is no hope.  We believe nothing will change.  Temporarily we lose our way and forget who creates the miracle.

O God,

we long

for your way.

We long

for you.

Make a

dwelling place

for us,

Loving God,

and show us

the way home.

Love, Andrea

Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Dear God,

So much of life is about surrender, not the kind that puts us at the feet of a tyrant but rather at the feet of a savior.  In our daily encounters with life, we find you posing questions to us.  "Will you trust me enough to help you?  Will you give me your troubles?  Will you let go of that which has bound you for so long?"  One of life's great tragedies is answering no to your challenge.

You have taught me much about surrender because I hang on far too long to life's problems.  I mistakenly feel like I have to carry difficulties alone so I do not burden anyone else.  I can have a death grip on whatever I am holding.  But I have learned when I hear the small whisper of invitation to simply said yes.

Compassionate Teacher,

thank you

for the blessing

of faith.

Forgive my 

slow response.

Thank you

for never

giving up

on me.

Love, Andrea

Monday, June 9, 2025

Dear God,

A search for the divine can be short if we are attentive to our surroundings.  A few days ago I took my husband to a doctor's appointment for a follow up visit after breaking his back.  Wearing a heavy brace and walking with a walker, he winced and cried out when he sat too quickly in a chair.  Embarrassed he apologized to others in the waiting room.  The elderly stranger sitting beside him simply said, "No problem, I was already praying for you."

It is possible no one thought you were present there; yet, it was very evident that you filled the room.  You came as mercy and love.  

Holy God,

thank you

for the constancy

of your

tender care.

Thank you

for your appearance

in a

waiting room

filled with

suffering patients.

Thank you

for reminding us.

Yours, Andrea

Sunday, June 8, 2025

Dear God,

When all seems to be darkness and we see a sliver of light, we must declare a miracle.  For the light brings us hope, warmth and joy.  If that is not a miracle, what is?

Daily we watch as one miracle after another occurs.  Watching the trees bud and blossom is a miracle.  Experiencing the birth of a child is a miracle.  Discovering love through gestures of compassionate kindness is a miracle.  My own breathing is a miracle.

Today it is not easy to see light for the forces of wickedness are always apparent.  But when we do, we need to stand on the rooftop declaring your glory has come!

Holy God,

direct us

to your miracles.

Give us

a voice

to declare praise.

May we become

a beam

of light

for others

in darkness.

Yours, Andrea

Saturday, June 7, 2025

Dear God,

It has been very challenging taking care of my husband who at 89 broke his back.  Doing everything for him has been exhausting, painful and frustrating.  Because I have bulging discs in my neck, arthritis in my shoulders and carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrists, I do my best but I am totally worn out and I have pain of my own.

A couple days ago you brought me an idea to build him a bed in the sunroom downstairs because he couldn't get upstairs easily and the bed did not work for him.  While Harold had tried to sleep on the couch for several nights and I slept on the hardwood floor so I could be near, to be sure neither of us got rest without pain.  Then you brought me the idea.  I went upstairs, tore apart three different beds, got help carrying down the pieces and I put them together in the lovely, bright and warm sunroom.  He fell asleep like a content baby.  And the gift to me as I lay down on a twin mattress on the floor?  One single, bright, twinkling star in the dark night sky.

Thank you

for gifts indescribable

for weary souls.

You are full

of love

for every child.

Thank you

for leaning down

to help

this one.

Love, Andrea

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Dear God,

Only love can save us.  Hatred, bitterness and selfishness will never aid us in our difficulties.  But where can we look for the kind of love that is authentic, beautiful and unconditional?  Only with you, only you, Gracious God, can rescue us from pain, loss, fear and despair.

But we must be real and honest.  There are those who paint a picture of you as judging, condemning, preferential, absent and unaccommodating.  However, usually they are those who want to portray you as one who loves their kind, their belief, their understanding, their practice and their way.  They try to lord over people acting more powerful and all-knowing.  But you, O God, are not like them.  You are God; there is none like you.  No one loves like you.  No one understands like you.  No one is perfect like you.  When you said to come to you like little children, you meant it.  We can come dirty, broken, confused, lost and despairing and you will receive us giving us ointment for our wounds, water for our thirstiness, food for our hunger, help in our lostness and love for our brokenness.  Only you.  Only you.

We forget

that you

know us,

dear God.

We forget

who you

really are.

Show us

the way

to you God.

Open your arms

so we

can come running.

Love, Andrea