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“Ring around the rosie. Pocket full of posey. Ashes, ashes, all fall down.”
For reasons I can’t quite explain, this curious rhyme recently intruded upon my thoughts. It carried me back to childhood, to evenings when my mother would recite it at bedtime. I had no idea what the words meant then, and ...
“Ring around the rosie. Pocket full of posey. Ashes, ashes, all fall down.”
For reasons I can’t quite explain, this curious rhyme recently intruded upon my thoughts. It carried me back to childhood, to evenings when my mother would recite it at bedtime. I had no idea what the words meant then, and ...
My spiritual director once gave me valuable advice: begin keeping a gratitude journal and make thankfulness a part of my everyday routine.
She encouraged me to approach gratitude as an Examen, so each evening I pause to jot down things I'm thankful for that day.
At first, I was worried that I’d tr...
Last week, I went away on retreat, hoping for rest and restoration. Admittedly, after more than a year of navigating chaos, that may have been a lot of pressure to place on just four and a half days! So it shouldn’t have surprised me that, no matter where I went, I was met with distraction after dis...
“Our spiritual journeys are not ours alone,” writes Ann Kline. That sentence opens a doorway into a deeper truth: we are not solitary seekers, but participants in the ongoing flow of God’s own prayer.
In group spiritual direction, we listen, not just for ourselves, but for each other. We ask not wh...
Our Wisdom Tree Collective students are in a beautiful season of transition as they are shifting from their first year of formation into their second year of learning and practice in the art of spiritual direction. To honor this, Kasey Hitt, Amy Lyles Wilson, and I will gather with the Cohort 2025 f...
Recently, I had the privilege of helping present on the topic of spiritual direction. As the conversation unfolded, one participant’s spontaneous question spurred a deeper conversation:
“What do you ask a spiritual director to see if they’re the right fit for you?”
Her question, almost sounding li...
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“Why, yes…yes you can. And with great compassion and integrity!”
Emily Askew, PhD.
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This is the answer I have given hundreds of times to people who do not believe that
online learning can be as good as face-to-face (F2F) learning in creating community,
offering a rigorous curriculum, and at...
Reflection Point: “The oak sleeps in the acorn, the bird waits in the egg, and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs. Dreams are the seedlings of realities.” —James Allen
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Scripture: Then Jesus said, “This is what God’s kingdom is like. It’s as though someone scatters seed on the...
“Fiction is crisis.” I was reminded of this Jonathan Mayberry quote in a recent article in
Writer’s Digest. Ryan Given Cleave wrote how fiction is all about the character’s messy
life. You don’t write about a bunch of happy people having a lovely day. “Instead, it’s
about embracing tension, chall...
Reflection Point: “Life does not accommodate you, it shatters you. Every seed destroys its container, or else there would be no fruition.” —Florida Scott-Maxwell
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Scripture: "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair." (2 Corinthians 4:8)
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Wisdom from a ...
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Reflection Point: "The tiny seed knew that in order to grow it needed to be dropped in dirt, covered in darkness, and struggle to reach the light." -Sandra Kring
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Scripture: Jesus said, "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it b...
