Discerning Our Next Steps on the Path Some of us appreciate a clearly marked path. I am one of those people who takes comfort in knowing not only where we are trying to go, but what we hope our next steps on the path will be. It can be helpful to have a clear plan. I decided I was going to be a lawyer when I grew up by the time I was in third grade. My understanding grew over time... Read more
Giving Ourselves Twenty Minutes Each Day When I listen to sacred stillness for twenty minutes each day I follow guidelines for a contemplative practice of centering prayer. Centering prayer is a way of praying and listening beyond thoughts, words, and feelings. We practice giving our consent to the presence and action of spiritual life within us. One of the standard suggestions about centering prayer is to practice for 20 minutes each day. We pause in the morning and in the... Read more
What is Your Super Power? Which of our abilities makes us super heroes? What is our super power? Are we faster than speeding bullets? More powerful than locomotives? Can we leap tall buildings in a single bound? We might not have the combination of powers which would make us Superman. Each of us does have our own unique mixture of core values and passion which helps us become our true selves. We can do something better than anyone else. Each... Read more
Spiritual Life Walks in the World It is a challenge for us to recognize how spiritual life walks in the world around us. Some of us like to think spiritual life ought to walk softly and carry a big stick. Others of us would like spiritual life to take bigger steps, to have more of an impact and leave deeper footprints. We may cringe when people ask us about spiritual life walking in the world. There are people from whom... Read more
What We Know and What We Don’t Know I’ve looked at life from both sides now From win and lose and still somehow It’s life’s illusions I recall I really don’t know life at all Many of us believe life, particularly spiritual life, is all about what we know. Some of us study and grapple with what we hear and what we see, struggling to know what it all means. We want to know, to be certain, to avoid ambiguity.... Read more
Qualities of Stillness Most of us think about stillness as something which is either/or, binary. We assume we are in a situation which is either still or not. Many of us have a difficult time recognizing the qualities of stillness. Can we, or the situations around us, become more still or less still? My experience of stillness shows me it is more like water than an either/or idea. Water comes in a lot of different forms and shapes. It can... Read more
The Great Vigil of Easter I belong to a liturgical church. It is not enough for us to understand our beliefs intellectually; we need to experience and appreciate them deep within ourselves. My favorite service of the entire year is the Great Vigil of Easter. The service lasts for at least two hours and includes a series of readings that recount our entire story. The service begins in darkness and, slowly but dramatically, light enters the world. It is my favorite... Read more
My Tsunami Journey: The Quest for God in a Broken World Mark Dowd’s tsunami journey began in a conversation with his father on Christmas, 2004. Mark and his parents turned on the television to see what was happening on the day after Christmas. They were flooded with images of tsunamis causing devastation in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Mark’s father turned off the broadcast. After some silence, he said five words which sparked Mark’s tsunami journey and his book. “God... Read more
Where Do We Turn? Where do we turn when we cannot find justice or peace? When our world seems inundated by war, pestilence, famine, and death, where do we turn? There are times when we feel overwhelmed by fear or anxiety, fatigue or hopelessness, loneliness or failure. What is our refuge? Where can we turn to find freedom or reflection, relief or release? It is easy for us to feel lost and alone, surrounded by challenges and obstacles, out of... Read more
The Power of Curiosity Many of the things we do are motivated by curiosity. We get interested in something and set off to find out more about it. The people who inspire me are curious. They want to find out how far or fast we can go and what is going to happen next. There is something about my own curiosity which gets me to do things I might not think I want to do. Why is curiosity powerful? What... Read more
Strategic Monk
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