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: [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

“Conversion happens in the spaces between events.” Macrina Wiederkehr How I love spending time in the Word with Sister Macrina! Today, using her book Abide: Keeping Vigil with the Word of God, I meditate on the conversion story of the apostle Paul, formerly known as Saul of Tarsus, as written in Acts 9. Saul, a [...]

“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 [...]

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 [...]

I just started re-reading Parker J. Palmer’s classic, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward An Undivided Life. By page 5, I remembered why I loved this book so much the first time, and why I was led to pick it up again. He writes: “On July 4, 1999, a twenty minute maelstrom of hurricane-force winds [...]

Quiet time in the kitchen garden, sitting under the hackberry tree. It’s a crisp, cool, September morning, and I’m bundled up in an afghan, warding off the chill. I woke up earlier than usual this morning, worries and anxieties taking flight even before I opened my eyes. Not a good way to start a Monday [...]