Blog
Mercy endures forever ~ that which you lost is, and will continue to be, found!Â
I am coming to appreciate Jesus’ use of parables ever more fully these days. The words offered are a pricking of both my mind and heart - an invitation to observe, to wonder, to open up and discover the Reality of Lov...
The Long Work of Becoming
I thought I was beyond being curled up in a fetal position. I thought I had worked past panic attacks and cortisol rushing through my bloodstream in waves that could take down a building. Yet there I was, 47 years old on the floor, struggling to breathe, reliving trauma, a...
My grandmother startled us with her shouting.
“This is my stop! I want to get off. This is it!”
My mom and I looked at her, confused. At the time, I didn’t understand Alzheimer’s or dementia. My mom had learned to ask grounding questions which helped us understand.
Gram, as I called her, stood in...
One of my favorite questions from spiritual direction is, “What does the inner landscape of your life look like right now?”
For me right now, that landscape is often a storm. Sometimes it’s high winds and lightning; other times, smaller waves that still rock the boat. The last 18 months have been f...
Reflection
Sometimes I find myself pacing back and forth, my mind filled with worry, my heart anxious. Sometimes I rush from one task to another, so much so that I forget what I’m looking for or doing. Any creativity I might have had going into the work vanishes. Sometimes there is so much noise – ...
Reflection
Growing up, I had the best dad in the world—or at least I thought so. I imagine many of you feel the same way about your dad. He loved me well. He was kind and accepting, and when he had to discipline me, I always knew it came from love. I never felt shamed by him. I always felt loved.
...
Reflection
Luke 10:41-42
The Lord Jesus replied,
"Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things.
But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her."
One Sunday recently I was trying really hard to be productive. There we...
Reflection
I love to garden. When I put my hands in the soil, it’s a spiritual practice. For me, Mother Earth is more than a metaphor. Earth nurtures each seed that is sown and feeds them from her dark, peat-laced womb. Wendell Berry connects the soul of soil in his deeply spiritual poem about plan...
A Lighter Way Week Seven: Healing at the EdgesÂ
Reflection
The Lord heals the brokenhearted, the anxious, the hurting, the sick. Woman with the flow of blood (Matthew 9:20–22; Mark 5:25–34; Luke 8:43–48)
Recently, I was struggling with intense anxiety, especially at night. This anxiety manifested...
The Sea of New Beginnings
Reflection:
 John Phillip Newell, author and former priest with the Church of Scotland, led my group of pilgrims to the top of a grassy hill on an unusually sunny day. We were on the Isle of Iona, Scotland, facing a rocky beach recognized as the place where St. Columba of...
A Lighter Way Week 5
From the Spirit Wheel by Steven Charleston:
What I Saw as a Child
When I was a child I thought of the world around me
As a magical place
With small spirits darting through my grandmother’s garden
Like fireflies at night
Unseen voices whispering stories
From the branches ...
All is One
John 17:22–23
“…that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity.”
Reflection
I once had an experience somewhere between waking and sleeping. I found myself in a vast darkness where two spheres appeared as rings of light—one larg...
