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A Lighter Way Week 9: Foreseen in Joy a lighter way a lighter way series acceptance gardening grow joy planting robbie pinter spiritual practice Jul 18, 2026

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...

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A Lighter Way Week Eight: Ten Thousand Beside Me a lighter way amy steele community Jul 11, 2026

Reflection

Maya Angelou’s unflinching poem “Our Grandmothers” includes the line, “I go forth along, and stand as ten thousand.” Those words capture how I understand companionship these days. Let me explain.

For a few months, we had a pet lionhead rabbit. (The backstory isn’t important here!) Lenno...

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A Lighter Way Week Seven: Healing at the Edges a lighter way a lighter way series cindy smith healing sitting with jesus wtc graduate Jul 05, 2026

A Lighter Way Week Seven: Healing at the Edges 

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...

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A Lighter Way Week Six: The Sea of New Beginnings a lighter way a lighter way series iona john phillip newell maria savage scotland sea of new beginnings Jun 28, 2026

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...

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A Lighter Way Week 5: When Wonder Walks Alongside Us a lighter way a lighter way series angels darrell arnett steven charleston wonder wtc graduate Jun 21, 2026

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 ...

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A Lighter Way Week Three: Held in Divine Unity a lighter way a lighter way series bob holmes held in divine unity wendy shafer Jun 07, 2026

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...

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A Lighter Way of Being: Ordinary Time and the Permission to Be Real a lighter way a lighter way series authenticity katie rea ordinary time wtc May 31, 2026

Reflection:           

Working at the Nashville Rescue Mission included an unexpected gift. At the time, Garrett and I were dating, and my office happened to be only five minutes from his workplace. Occasionally, we would meet for a quick lunch between busy schedules.

One afternoon, Garrett was w...

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A Lighter Way Week One: Dancing Leaves a lighter way a lighter way series body awareness holy mystery kasey hitt noticing May 24, 2026

Reflection: 

From the moment the swim instructor asked us to turn our two-year-olds onto their backs so they could practice floating, he protested with loud cries. No way was he going to let me lay him back in the water. It was too scary, even with me there beside him. 

No amount of convincing was...

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