2 Cor. 12: 9-10 Buffeted by ocean tumult Crucified on timeless beach Buried by storm and sand Risen whole Exposed by tide Bleached by sun Carried home as talisman Lesson in adversity Delicate as baby’s breath Brittle as old woman’s bone Weightless as Christ’s presence Powerful as confessed weakness Flawless flower etched on orb Hollow [...]
“I can teach you how to fly.” Those were the words, spoken to me in a dream last year, by a wise woman I call “Macrina/Judi.” Macrina is Macrina Weiderkehr, an author who has accompanied me on my spiritual journey for the past ten years. And Judi is Judi Dench, the actress. In this particular [...]
This morning, during Lectio Divina, I find myself in a wrestling match. The verses are from Genesis—the story of Jacob wrestling with an angel on the fork of the Jabbok as he prepares to return to his homeland—to the brother he had cheated out of their father’s blessing many years before. To give you the [...]
As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, “Where is your God?” I carry Bible [...]
After Wally leaves for work, I bring my Bible, journal, and tea into the garden. A light mist hovers over the fields across the road, and I am surprised to see tender green shoots of corn forming rows where yesterday there was nothing but dirt. All around me, Dame’s Rocket thrusts purple and white spires [...]
I’m sitting on the porch of a cabin in Roan Mountain, Tennessee. A gentle spring rain soaks the garden, and a small waterfall caused by a plugged-up gutter falls in front of my Adirondack chair. My porch-side perch overlooks a roaring, rock-filled creek. Across the creek a hill ascends at a nearly vertical pitch, rhododendron [...]
A deep stillness descended over the woods as I walked, its peacefulness gradually permeating my spirit. My black lab, Poco, ran on ahead, nose to the ground, snuffling in the unexpected February snow. A loud crackling and crashing in the underbrush to the right of the path broke the silence. I stopped. Leashing the dog, [...]
“I can teach you how to fly.” These words were spoken to me in a dream last year, by a wise woman I call “Macrina/Judi.” Macrina is Macrina Weiderkehr, an author whose books have accompanied me on my spiritual journey for the past ten years. And Judi is Judi Dench, the British actress. In this [...]
I love lectio divina! For nearly ten years, every Wednesday morning, my contemplative prayer group has used this discipline to center our prayer time. Three times, we read through a short Scripture. We read aloud, slowly, meditatively. After the first reading, each person speaks one line or one word in the Scripture that speaks to [...]
“To lose faith is to stop looking. To lose faith is to decide that all you ever saw from afar was your own best dreams.” Frederick Buechner Boy, can I relate to this quote today. Do you ever get tired of praying and not getting answers? Feel like arrow prayers zoom into space, never finding [...]