This is part two of my series, 4 TOXINS OF THE SPIRIT. If you’d like to read part one, it’s here for you. I’d love to know what you think. If you’ve ever been in grad school or around someone who is enduring it, you know that it is a total stripping of the mind and soul from the moment classes begin. I’ve watched people I know re-arrange their brains to understand new ways of thinking, to take on new challenges... Read more
My upcoming book is about finding glory in every season of life. One of those seasons for me was a particularly difficult one, when I was abandoned by a family member. You can read about it when my book comes out this fall, and if you read that story you’ll hear that thin place, where I was lonely and afraid, but I was held by the grace of God and the people who loved me. As we search for glory... Read more
Dear President Trump, Every Tuesday now, I gather with my boys (so far) at a local coffee shop to write you these letters. I write to you because I want you to know my story. I write you these letters in hopes that one day my boys will feel empowered to write letters to whoever the president is when they are adults. I write to you as an indigenous woman because my people’s voices matter. I write to you as... Read more
In a small group exercise recently, all participants were asked to rank our life identities or roles from 1-4, most to least important. Twenty-something of us sat with our papers folded into four spaces, our pens and markers unsteady for the task. We sat around the quiet room for a few moments and thought about what we call ourselves, what we do, who we care about, and what we dream to one day be. Immediately I felt uncomfortable and conflicted... Read more
” Awakened by surprise, we can recognize that what we call a ‘given’ world is truly given. For we have not made it, earned it, or deserved it; chances are that we have not even fully approved of it. What confronts us is a given reality, and we recognize it as given. But only if we acknowledge this gift will our recognition lead to gratefulness. And acknowledging a gift may be far more difficult than recognizing it.” –Brother David Steindl-Rast, Gratefulness,... Read more
Last week I spent a few days in Nashville at the Convergence Music Project conference– a group of church leaders coming together to figure out how to lead in a different way that reflects inclusive grace in our worship spaces. I expected to go to this conference and sit and listen. I expected to meet one or two people, to keep my head down, to take notes and be still. I expected to keep my Native American self a little... Read more
For a little while now, I’m joining some friends to celebrate gratitude every Friday. Today, a bullet poem: At the end of this string of weekdays, I breathe hello to Friday and remember gratefulness. Some say that it’s the thing that holds us together, this practice of looking at the world and saying we’re glad to be a part of it. So I gather my seven gratitudes, seven expressions of hope. I count two little heads that sleep beneath... Read more
Hemlock and aconite, also known by many as Wolfs bane, are just two of multiple poisons that have been known to exist in the natural world. These two toxins, among others, are unique in that they work slowly in the body, causing slow paralysis and shut down of the systems before death occurs. Just as it is with the body, there are toxins of the spirit that we injest every day without recognizing them. They are the slow and steady... Read more
“Healing is impossible in loneliness; it is the opposite of loneliness. Conviviality is healing. To be healed we must come with all the other creatures to the feast of Creation.” –Wendell Berry Every Sunday for four weeks in January, I spent an hour in a sunday school class on the third floor of my church building with a beautiful group of people who call themselves pilgrims, unfinished. They invited me to share my journey with them, particularly the more recent journey... Read more
Dear President Trump, Last Thanksgiving, we had a dear friend over for lunch. She’d never been to an American Thanksgiving before, but she said yes, because she loves my boys. She’s a florist in our city, and when we began buying flowers from her, she formed a bond with these two boys who hugged her and knew her name and cared. She is Muslim, but spent what I’m sure was a slightly uncomfortable few hours in our noisy home and ended... Read more
Stories - with Kaitlin B. Curtice
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