The Consolation of Stillness It is easy or us to see ourselves living in a world of desolation, fear, and sorrow. Our dreams and expectations seem to evaporate. We experience frustrations and disappointments and we remember the pain of each one. Candidates we decide to support are defeated and withdraw before we can vote. Everything we though was dependable and certain slips through our fingers like dust. People we love are threatened by diseases we had never heard of a... Read more
Making Space for God A contemplative Lent is our opportunity to begin some serious changes and making space for God. The liturgical season of Lent is not about giving things up or giving them away. It is not about chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, or social media. During Lent, we take an honest, insightful look at who we really are. We reflect on what we hold onto and how it holds us back from becoming our truest selves. Looking ourselves in the eye,... Read more
The Joys of Beginning Again Many of us are in a season of beginning again. Some of us began the year with high hopes and great expectations. The past couple of months may have stopped us in our tracks. The days have reminded us it is still winter despite all our talk about new life and living into our best selves. We may have started the year with a commitment to making our lives different. This was going to be... Read more
What Will We Do With Our Extra Day? Many of us live our lives in a race against time. Our days are full of responsibilities and deadlines. We do what we can with the time we have. Just think what we might accomplish if we had just one extra day. Some of us simply react our way toward goals. We do not have time to look at the big picture or think things through, much less practice being mindful and... Read more
What Are We Doing When We Hate? What we hate appears to define our world. We live in a world which has been been at war for longer than we can remember. Groups of people hating each other take violent actions to express their hatred. It is almost impossible to go onto social media without hearing about what or who someone hates. Other media are essentially the same. Hatred seems to be everywhere. Some of us have become more sophisticated... Read more
Finding Wisdom in Stillness What is wisdom and where do we find it? We are often more comfortable seeking knowledge or information than wisdom. Our culture appears to value knowing and being informed more than it does becoming wise. It can be easy for us to assume we need to grow old in order to gain wisdom. We like to think experience automatically teaches us about being wise. Some of us try to learn how to be wise from other... Read more
Preparing for a Contemplative Lent The liturgical season of Lent begins next week on Ash Wednesday. Those of us anticipating a contemplative Lent are running out of time to prepare. We have questions to answer and intentions to decide, and are running out of shopping days before Lent. Lent is not about giving things up. It is not about chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, or social media. During Lent, we take an honest, insightful look at who we really are. Reflecting on what... Read more
Stillness Beyond What Is Visible When we practice listening to sacred stillness we sit with our eyes closed. It is not about being asleep or oblivious to what is around us. For some of us what is visible distracts us from being open to sacred stillness. The shapes we see remind us of other things and, before we know it, we are thinking about something else. Some of us do not keep our eyes closed but watch the flame of a... Read more
Looking Up Into the Night Sky The dance of lights and darkness in the night sky can be entrancing. We do not seem to have as much time for contemplating the night sky as we used to have. I remember when I was a child I would go outdoors after dark just to look up into the sky. My father tried to show me the constellations, but my eyesight was not particularly good even then. My interest in looking up... Read more
Are We Hiding From the Real World? Some of us believe people who live monastic lives are hiding from the real world. They seem to think men and women who become monks and nuns are afraid of everyday life. I know people who view their lives as challenging while living in a monastery seems easier. Some of us believe people are drawn to monastic life as a way to avoid temptations. We think about how wonderful it would be to... Read more
Strategic Monk
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