What are we to do with the hypocrisy of this day? Remember that what’s important is who we are before God…
Posts in Spirituality
Common Phrases, Uncommon Faith
I used to have a fairly deep distaste for the phrase, “Everything happens for a reason”…
Suffering Love: On What the World Does to Children
During the first week of my long retreat I was having disturbingly vivid dreams about wounded children. I’d awake having dreamt of kids in hospital beds…
Life of a Spiritual Athlete: Learning to Sing
Late last fall, I gave my first public singing performance. I had picked up voice lessons for the first time in my life last fall and was totally shocked by how much I enjoyed it…
Sarcasm Part 1: On Discerning Love, Valentine’s Day, and the Danger of Sarcasm
My mind has forgotten, or blissfully blocked, the sarcastic comment that prompted her words. I may never recall what I said to her, but I sure remember my sister’s response. It cut like a knife…
Falling Trees: On the Weight of Life
A few months ago two 1500 year-old giant sequoias, twinned at their base, fell in California. While not unheard of, this kind of thing certainly doesn’t happen every day—if it did these trees wouldn’t grow to be as old as they are…
‘Tis A Gift To Be Simple…
I still remember memorizing the Our Father as a child in Sunday school. Whenever I’m on a bumpy plane ride, that familiar prayer of my youth comes to me sooner than any comforting words I could assemble on my own…
Advice from a Spiritual Hitchhiker: Don’t Panic
Some years ago, I put one of my younger sisters onto Douglas Adams’ science-fiction work The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The book’s taste for the fantastic and the absurd was just my sister’s kind of humor, but…
Wasp’s Nest Worries: On the Constant Labor of Creation
I worry more than I exercise. This is not good for my health. Once, on a silent retreat, my spiritual director suggested that I pray about the fact of God’s constant struggling effort in creation. Well, in my world (the world of the fat kid) nothing says ‘struggling effort in creation’ like a short hike, so I took a morning walk up to English Point.
Where’s Home for You? Reflections on the Transitional State
Look, transitions are hard. Luckily Joe Simmons knows exactly where the “play Semisonic now” button is located and uses it freely.