Scripps Sundays

   This was an email sent on Earth Day last week from the wonderful company that makes my favorite running dresses, and it's a breath of fresh air. I thought you might need these words today....  Hello, Loves! Happy Earth Day! We’re in a funny mood here at Nuu-Muu and it has been a while since I’ve written. It’s April and the edge of spring and we’re somehow supposed to have the energy to talk about Earth Day and renewal and emerging from winter and enjoying the draw of the warmer season. AND YET. JEEEEEZ. Are you working as hard as we are to keep it all together right now? The flowers are blooming and our human hearts are catching up. The trees are budding yet it feels like we’re still in the midst of a pretty big storm. Flip flops are out but the pandemic isn’t over yet, right? And all around we see our people shedding the distractions of life and looking each other in the eyes and getting very, very real. And so, on Earth Day we offer compassion to the humans who ...

Doubt and Trust "As I write this, it is still Lent, and in the locked room of my imagination Jesus is still headed towards the cross, and not yet walking through walls to join the cowering disciples who watched their hopes die along with him on the cross.* Instead of replying “He is risen, indeed” to the victorious cry of “Christ is risen,” I am spending too much time trembling in fear and frustration as war still rages in Ukraine, the climate is hurtling ever faster towards disaster, the forces of racism and misogyny continue to grow, and the US is more divided than it has ever been since the Civil War. Even on a day when the brilliant blue of the sky reaches unbroken from horizon to horizon, the clouds of doubt turn into monsters, blocking me from any hope for better future. Even so, I’m making plane reservations as if I believe that I will really be going to see my family in England and Los Angeles this summer. I’ve tried to get to England twice before, and each time had to can...

As we talked about this letter again this week, I wanted to send it with deep gratitude for the belonging you are finding with your people.... When I pray for you, I am often praying for God to reveal Himself to you, and I am grateful for the way that you were able to receive some of those revelations this week after your ultimate game on Saturday that you are loved and treasured and delighted in. I believe with all my heart that God speaks through our lives, and it sure seems like there has been some loud singing (** see below)  this week. I am grateful you have had ears to hear it and to push aside doubts and fears....  ** ** Happy Easter, dearest girl. I love you to the moon and back.  Award-winning British journalist and author Caitlin Moran hails from Brighton, England, the eldest of eight siblings whose working-class family grew up in the city of Wolverhampton. The mother of two girls herself, in 2013 she wrote the following letter to one of her daughters, explainin...

I shared these with you after our phone call this afternoon, and I wanted to put them here as well so you could find them later if you wanted to track these down easily.....  from Kate Bowler's book  Early-2006, with nobody to turn to during a bout of depression, a young lady by the name of Crystal wrote a desperate letter to someone she looked up to—someone she knew had been through something similar. She later explained: I had no idea who to turn to. But I really needed someone to turn to and to ease the pain. So I wrote to Stephen Fry because he is my hero, and he has been through this himself. And lo and behold, he replied to my letter, and I will love him eternally for this. Stephen’s perfect reply—written on this day in 2006—can be read below, and should be shared far and wide. I’m also including  audio  of this letter being read by the man himself, recorded at  Letters Live  on 3rd October 2019, at London’s Royal Albert Hall ¹ . April 10th, 2006 Dear...

I have been thinking a lot about the conversation we had with Somers Randolph in Santa Fe last weekend when we got to tour his home and studio when he asked you if you were a systematic thinker or a creative thinker. You said that you thought you were more of a systematic thinker to which he responded that he was not surprised and could tell by the way you were standing that you were very rooted.  While you said this probably has to do with the fact that you have been a dancer since you were little, I do think his first impression of you is something that I have seen growing in you for a long, long time. You are indeed rooted, and seeing you dance in the show this weekend only confirmed this even more. May you continue to put those roots down deep in this time at Scripps, and may you know how very loved and treasured you are.  ROOTED But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots...