Does God Love Us? We live in a time of war, famine, pestilence, death, and misinformation. Countries where earthquakes kill thousands of people are devastated again by tropical storms within a few days. I live in a state where brushfires and forest fire fill the air with smoke and we are running out of water. At the same time, virulent new variants are infecting more and more people with a worldwide pandemic. It makes sense for us to ask Does... Read more
Exploring the Stillness Within Us It is becoming harder and harder to find stillness to explore in the word around us. Our lives seem to be immersed in evermore complicated layers of news and information. We are surrounded by the sounds of music and entertainment. It is more and more difficult to be still and we turn toward the stillness within us. We seem to be living in a time when almost everyone is talking almost all the time. Everyone... Read more
Are We Still Living in Ordinary Time? It is a challenge for many of us these days to keep track of the regular passage of time. Part of it is how the pandemic has torn away some of our understanding of what is ordinary and what is not. We talk about finding a new normal, but some of us have not found it yet. Each week seems to bring new challenges and carry us further away from ordinary time. Each... Read more
A World of Difference Some people I know believe monastic communities are about turning our backs on the world. They might choose to spend some quiet, reflective time at a monastery getting away from everyday life. It is like taking a spiritual nap or a vacation, not a way of making a world of difference. It is the people I know who live in monastic communities who understand how to make a difference in the world. Many of the... Read more
When We Need to Leave God Behind There are times when spiritual life seems to bring us to a dead end. We feel stuck where we apparently run out of road and wish we were not carrying so much. When we believe we have done the best we can to discern and follow, we begin to believe we might do better if we leave God behind. It is easy for us to start wondering whether we would be better off... Read more
Mysteries in the Stillness I enjoy a good mystery. It is a pleasure for us to try to think our way through the threads of a story and try to sort them out. Mysteries engage my attention, whether they are Sherlock Holmes or film noir or finding mysteries in the stillness. Some of us approach spiritual life as a way to solve our mysteries. We come asking questions and seeking spiritual answers. Our intention in beginning a practice of listening... Read more
Our Second Pandemic Summer Many of us were hoping it would not come to this. We expected to wait out the storm of the pandemic and, eventually, it would all go away. Instead, we find ourselves living through our second pandemic summer. It is not as scary as last summer. We take more walks and get out and about more. The fear of last summer is being replaced with a mixture of hope and frustration. Last summer we encouraged each... Read more
Invitations to Further Contemplation Many of us do not appreciate questions, our own or those of other people. We tend to believe questions mean we are not being particularly clear. Most of us want to hurry on to answers and results, not get stuck in more questions. We generally experience questions as distractions, and not as invitations to further contemplation. Our own questions often make us feel confused. If we truly understood something we would not have any questions, would... Read more
A Summer for Transformation Some of us like to remember summers when we were children as times of rest and relaxation. We might think of summer as a time for vacations, or for catching up, or getting ahead. Summer this year is different. This is a summer for transformation. Many of us took time during the last year and a half for reflecting, reading, and resting. We have stayed at home, protecting ourselves and those we love. Our schedules have... Read more
When We Ponder Together Have you ever wondered about what your own spiritual tradition means in everyday life? What do we really believe and how does it shape how we live and interact with people? I believe we begin to understand more when we ponder together. What can we really do to respond to significant questions? Some of us wish we could do more to help other people. We appreciate the ways serving other people feeds our own souls, but... Read more
Strategic Monk
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In