In morning prayer today, my friends and I centered our lectio time on Psalm 25:1-10. The verses that shimmered for me were from the beginning of verse 5: “Ease me down the path of your truth. Feed me your word” (The Voice). I sank into silence to be met by images of being fed. I [...]
More magazine, which I enjoy for its insightful articles, has a monthly column: one month it is entitled “This is What 40 Looks Like,” the next, “This is What 50 Looks Like.” It always includes a picture of a beautiful woman and a bio extolling all of the wonderful things her life includes, changing stereotypes [...]
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 [...]
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12: [...]
The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech and night to night declares knowledge Psalm 19:1-2 I’m sitting on the deck, meditating, when a wren’s raucous song jolts me back to earth. Open your eyes, she cries. Open your eyes! I open my [...]
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 [...]
Last night a wind blew in from the north, leaving frost on the fields across the road and a nip in the air. I have the day to myself, and plan to sit inside with a cup of tea. This autumn afternoon invites a time of prayer, a good novel, and maybe even a nap. [...]
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 [...]
“Our vocation is not only to do what the Word told us to do but also to say what the Word told us to say, until the whole world is transformed by the news.” Barbara Brown Taylor, When God is Silent Is there anything more beautiful than a walk in the woods in the middle [...]
Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Amazing, how such a small, controlled movement on my part puts the swing in motion. Heel, toe. Heel, toe. Heel, toe. It’s a matter of moments before my heart rate matches the rhythm of the swing, my spinning thoughts calm, and my tense muscles relax. I’ve entered another realm. [...]