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Category Archives: Spiritual Formation
The Dead Tree Blooms
Last week a dead tree–a prop for one of the stations of the cross–started blooming in our sanctuary. Here’s the story: A team of artists from our congregation has been meeting for the past several months to pray about how … Continue reading
The Gift of the Wilderness
I’m posting this by request. This is a journal entry I wrote a few months ago about God’s work in the wilderness, and I’ve included it in a couple of retreats lately. The wilderness is the place of solitude and … Continue reading
Sunset, Sunrise
I just tried to call the very first phone number I ever memorized, and it has already been disconnected. Tomorrow my parents leave my childhood home in California to move to North Carolina. After almost 50 years in California, it’s … Continue reading
A Parable
I was reading through one of my old journals this morning, marveling at everything I’ve forgotten about my life with God, when I came across an entry that particularly grabbed my attention. A friend had told me a parable: Two … Continue reading
Averting My Eyes
I admit it. I avoided watching the news yesterday. I couldn’t handle the graphic images of the earthquake and tsunamis in Japan. I couldn’t bear to watch the terror unfold in real-time Twitter and Facebook updates. I couldn’t bear the … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual Formation, Writing Process
Tagged averting eyes, flinch, highly sensitive person, see, sensitivity
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A Controlled Burn
Twice a month I meet with a peer group of spiritual directors. Yesterday one of them shared an image that is just too good not to pass along. We were listening to one of the directors describe a recent session … Continue reading
The Gift of Community
One of my deepest joys is hearing about readers who are connecting with one another to pursue spiritual formation together. Just yesterday I heard about a book club that has decided to form a sacred journey group in which they … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual Formation
Tagged community, Elizabeth, friendship, group spiritual formation, Mary, transformation
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Wakened from Sleep
Yesterday the “real Sensible Shoes Club” sat and prayed with Zechariah 4:1-10. The angel who talked with me came again and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, … Continue reading
Posted in Spiritual Formation
Tagged Advent, attention, awake, noticing, sleep, Zechariah
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Laying it Bare
In my “Hanging up the Harps” post, I commented that perhaps Psalm 137 was worthy of several blog entries. Here’s part two. Remember, O Lord, against the Edomites the day of Jerusalem’s fall, how they said, ‘Lay it bare! Lay … Continue reading
Hanging up the Harps
The “real Sensible Shoes Club” meets every week for two and a half hours. After more than two years of walking together, we’re accustomed to traveling reverently through deep, sacred, and often tender places of the inner life. Last week, … Continue reading
Sensible Shoes 