Stillness in the Hospital When I go to the hospital to pray it is often for someone else. People ask me to pray for them and together we listen to the sacred stillness in the hospital. This week I spent some time listening to the stillness in the hospital as a patient. It was not a surprise or an emergency. I had plenty of time to plan and prepare, for all those preliminary appointments. There was blood work and a... Read more
What Makes Easter Important? When I hear people talk about Easter it sounds like the most important thing is candy. Some of us talk about eggs and bunnies, bonnets and big family meals. It sounds like, though, the most important thing is candy. In fact, Easter does not seem to be dramatically different from Halloween or Valentine’s Day. It feels like our holidays have all been blended together and the most important part of all of them is deciding what... Read more
In Thy Stillness Let My Heart Rest Hazrat Inayat Khan wrote Through the silence of nature, I attain Thy divine peace. O sublime nature, in thy stillness let my heart rest. Thou art patiently awaiting the moment to manifest through the silence of sublime nature. O nature sublime, speak to me through silence, for I am awaiting in silence like you the call of God. O nature sublime, through thy silence I hear Thy cry. My heart is tuned to... Read more
Not Knowing How the Story Ends The drama of our lives is not knowing how the story ends. It is easy for us to become caught up in all the twists and turns of our own stories. There we are, mindful in a present moment, when we are faced with a decision which could change everything. We could do much better if we knew where the story was going, or where it went next. Some of us want to read... Read more
Setting Free the Dragons Within Us Some of us think spiritual life is about holding onto the dragons within us as tightly as possible. We seem to believe we need to hold onto our dragons as strongly as we can. It is as if the dragons within us are likely to escape and cause damage if we do not contain or control them. Some people need to know clearly and concretely which dragons belong to them and which do not. We... Read more
Where Can We Go to Find More? We live in a world where almost everyone wants to find more. Some of us want to find more money or more time. Many people are desperate for more celebrity, particularly on social media. We want bigger and smarter houses or faster cars. Some of us hope to spend our vacations in more relaxing places. Almost everyone seems to be looking for more of something. Where are you looking for more? We seem... Read more
When Spiritual Life Gets a Little Intense Sometimes spiritual life can get a little intense. Many of us have particularly strong feelings about spiritual life along with deeply held beliefs. We are committed to what we think we know about spiritual life. It takes a great deal to persuade us to change our minds. We may feel we have already researched spiritual questions and found the answers we want. Things can get a little intense when someone asks us to... Read more
Why Does Lent Have to Last So Long? For many of us it seems like Lent lasts forever. Why does Lent have to last so long? Part of the reason Lent feels so long is because it is a long liturgical season. It is longer than the twelve days of Christmas or the four weeks of Advent. Lent is the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, though it is even longer than that. Sundays do not count the... Read more
Are We Really Paying Attention? Many of us like to think we are good listeners, or at least are becoming better listeners. We know how to listen well when we are having a conversation with someone else. Maintaining eye contact, without staring, demonstrates we are paying attention. We are not checking our phone or watching something else. Good listeners do not merely think about what they are going to say next while someone else is talking. Our minds and our... Read more
When We Take Time For Rest We are almost at the end of March, moments away from the end of the first quarter of the year. Many of us have filled our time with New Year’s resolutions and Lent disciplines. There are so many things we hope to accomplish this year. We have been chasing them at full speed for three months. What we believe has shaped how we have experienced our year so far. We may believe in the... Read more
Strategic Monk
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