“The soul of society is law; the soul of community is love.” -Roberto Rossellini About a year ago, I was at a women’s retreat where one of the icebreaker questions for Friday evening was something like, “Who do you want to be when you grow up?” As we went from woman to woman, a bit of a theme emerged, many saying in one way or another that they hoped to become a “crazy old woman” as they aged. Though those... Read more
“Transformation is real and it can make us into a woman we would never have imaged, a woman who feels at once like a stranger and a friend…” I’ve run across a few things this week that brought up the topic of interruption… A conversation with a directee and this insightful and concretely helpful blog post by Chris Corrigan. As often happens with me, those thoughts connected to the story of a woman in Scripture, the woman with the hemorrhage.... Read more
“The moments when we meet our limitations are often the times when we struggle the most with self-compassion.” It has been an exciting week in the Davis household. On Tuesday, we welcomed our first grand child, Georgia Lynn Burleson-Davis. Isn’t she beautiful? Though 3 weeks earlier than we anticipated, her birth went marvelously well and her parents are taking spectacular care of her… so my husband and I are trying to support them in their many sleepless nights with meals... Read more
“It is not so much compromise that is called for but a greater wisdom and vision.” Years ago, I heard this wisdom from the famous evangelical preacher, Chuck Swindoll: ”Creativity is messy.” He was right: almost all creativity, from a first draft of a novel to finger-paint to sex, is messy. It involves differences and distinctions as well as sameness and connections. In Genesis 1, God separated this and that and gathered the other to make our earth. So, it... Read more
One of the challenges of learning the spiritual practice of self-compassion is that it most often comes to us in the shape of not-so-easy small choices. Think of Mary of Bethany who courageously chose to sit at Jesus’ feet to learn… And stayed there even when her sister complained bitterly. Think of the woman with the hemorrhage who hoped beyond reason, bravely and illegally entered the fray of the crowd, and reached out to touch the hem of the Rabbi... Read more
It seems I am forever just behind the culture curve… just outside the conversation. But when this invitation from SheLoves and Megan Gahan came across my field of vision yesterday, through this blog of fellow Patheos blogger Enuma Okoro, I knew I wanted to attempt to include it here because it’s such a part of my current life struggle/growing edge. A love letter to my body Clearly, I need to begin with an apology. I have not loved you well.... Read more
“She (Sarah) planted herself not on the edge but in the center of God’s land of promise…” Kathleen Norris opened her book Dakota with this quotation from Spanish philosopher Jose Ortega y Gassett: “Tell me the landscape in which you live, and I will tell you who you are.” Of equal intrigue to me is this quotation that I found a few years ago, carved into a stone in front of Palmer Auditorium here in Austin. It was penned by... Read more
“We tend to believe that we welcome compassion; that the world could never have enough. At the same time, we often resist compassion,…” She was my first introduction to these thoughts on our resistance to compassion. I have to admit that every time I read the words of this early review of my most recent book, My Own Worst Enemy, I still flinch. “Out of everything that I disagreed with the most in this book I can’t complete this review... Read more
“Wisdom does not come to us in snippets and sound bites but instead in deep rhythms to be revealed and discovered as we ponder and seek. “ I was visiting this week with my mom who has dementia. It is interesting and sad to notice that her responses to questions are increasingly disconnected from reality. Her brain’s process of sorting and seeking real-time data in response to a question have become so slow that she simply offers an answer, nabbed... Read more
“If we can muster the courage for the initial choice, we expect affirmation and blessing.” It is a moment of being invited to grow up. It is usually an unwelcome invitation. When we make a difficult but wise choice, something in us expects that the world will rise up and bless us. And sometimes that does happen: Mary’s sign from the angel was Elizabeth’s encouraging proclamation. But sometimes… not so much. We are looking for affirmation and we get complaint.... Read more
Women, Wisdom, and the Word
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