Newsletter
A Monthly Newsletter of Inspiration and Grace
Beauty and Savoring
March, 2008
"Beauty...is the shadow of God on the universe." In the world of a child, awe precedes faith.
New Rules
January, 2008
We continue to think of spiritual and emotional growth in terms of a payoff, or a cause and effect.
Simplicity
December, 2007
SIMPLIFY...Except that the next thing you know, we make an assignment and duty out of it, as if there will be a test.
Dandelions
November, 2007
Spirituality begins with acceptance. In other words, I begin here. In this moment. I am not a pawn or victim or puppet.
Success
September, 2007
As long as success is measured by keeping score, we lose track of most everything that makes us human and therefore, glad to be alive.
Bliss
July, 2007
We all practice a finely honed skill: Expecting life to reside in an event or experience or occasion other than the one we are in right now.
Shadows
June, 2007
I want to be rescued from my shadows. By some event or person or experience. So I find myself starting sentences with, "I wish that. . ." or "if only. . ."
A Gentle Plea for Chaos
April, 2007
Insight, serendipity, wonder, love, surprise, joy, delight and discovery all come from places where we are not sure, where we did not know, where we did not have answers.
Sanctuary
February, 2007
I am still. I let this sanctuary be a reprieve, a container, a breathing space...Sanctuaries are about remembering who we already are.
Glory in the grey
December, 2006
It is here that the grey imparts its magic. God breaks in on the ordinary, daily, mundane and earthy.
Just the Fishin'
December, 2006
"Well, sometimes it's not the fish I'm after," he said, "it's the fishing."
If we have not Love...
November, 2006
A by-product of a life lived in gratitude. You know, a life lived from acceptance, not for acceptance.
Inner Rebel
October, 2006
If the voices (from culture, Madison Avenue, religious gurus, self-help teachers, or concerned onlookers) leach the awe, wonder, joyfulness, playfulness and generosity from your life, it is pure snake oil. Have no part of it.
This is the life
September, 2006
The holy trinity of our culture: bigger, faster and more beautiful. . .All implying that we should be living a different life, and not the one we are living now.
Paying Attention
July, 2006
Paying attention is about moments. But not just the good moments. It's about all the moments. The sad and the jubilant. The joys and the griefs. The mundane and the bustling.
Play and Laughter
June, 2006
They live by the philosophy that if the day doesn't have a fine game worth playing, it's a good time to make one up.
Heaven on Earth
May, 2006
This he knew, in his bones; this ordinary moment is a sacrament. A container for grace.
Sacred Necessities: Simple Pleasures
April, 2006
“Experts disagree on how to be happy.” I can picture it. A “my happiness is better than your happiness” bar-room brawl, in the end both sides deciding that happiness comes from kicking the stuffing out of someone else.
Gardens and Grace: Spiritual Growth in the Quiet Garden
March, 2006
There is solace in nature—in the Garden. If you don't believe me, let me take you for a stroll, down by our pond. We'll sit on the ledge rocks, listen to the frogs, watch the hummingbirds and let the sun soothe our regrets.
Sacred Necessities: Brokenness and Hidden Wholeness
March, 2006
And some of us—no, all of us—break. Maybe from boredom, or lack of passion, or illusion of familiarity, or loss of childlikeness, or fatigue of spirit, or cruelty, or despair.
Sacred Necessities: Unreasonable Grace
January, 2006
"Sometimes at that moment a wave of light breaks into our darkness, and it is as though a voice were saying, 'You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know.'"
Sacred Necessities: to see, to live in Grace
January, 2006
To see (life in its mysterious and extravagant fullness) begins with an inner disarmament. Sooner or later we need to remove pieces of the armor we wear that keep us from allowing life in.
Gardens and Grace - Sanctuaries in the Ordinary
December, 2005
Today I'm giving the sun and the garden the power of attorney for my psyche.
The Seven Wonders of the World
November, 2005
The spiritual life begins with this simple sentence, “I never noticed that before.” In other words, awareness. Presence.
The little things
October, 2005
The divided life (a life torn between love and fear) is a wounded life, and the soul keeps calling us to heal the wound. Ignore that call, and we find ourselves trying to numb our pain with an anesthetic of choice, be it substance abuse, overwork, consumerism, or mindless media noise.
Kindness, Part II
September, 2005
A community where "kindness of heart would be a matter of practical experience, and where love would be at the heart of all things."
Kindness
August, 2005
The truth is simple. We are, all of us in this world, broken. And the Grace of God is the glue. We will go a long way toward healing if we see vulnerability as our common bond.
Sanctuary (I)
June, 2005
In the silence of not doing we begin to know what we feel. If we listen and hear what is being offered, then anything in life can be our guide.
Rediscovering Wonder
May, 2005
We live in a world where we've traded wonderment and amazement for consumption. We're preoccupied (distracted) by accumulating, accomplishing and arriving.
A Few Things That Matter
March, 2005
And somewhere on the way to happiness or inner peace, it hits me that I'm looking too hard for what I already hold, but have not yet embraced.
Stillness, Part II
March, 2005
However you slice it, slowing down is a tough sell. But sooner or later, an essential one. I embraced the internal tapes that encouraged and promoted hell-bent pacing. And I lived my life as if I were indefinitely preparing to live.
Stillness
January, 2005
That space--created by silence--represents sanity. For silence can be a fullness, rather than a void. It can let us recover--grab hold of--those parts of our self which have been so scattered, so disparate, throughout the week.
Big Leaf Dancing
October, 2004
With a maple leaf in each hand, each looking like a giant fan, he gallops, skips and hops in a circle, incanting. After a few minutes, he interrupts his dance to remind us that this is not a dance to be performed solitaire.
Garden as Healing Space
July, 2004
Every garden is a healing space. And there are no two gardens alike. Gardens touch us all, emotionally, spiritually, and physically.
Holy Week in Guatemala
June, 2004
The processesion is ahead of me now, maybe two city blocks. Jesus staggers on, seeming to rise above the incense. I would pray, if I knew what to say, but silence is better.
Sacred Space
April, 2004
And while my mind raced, fueled by the expectations heaped on a shipment of charmed plants, it hit me again that either you see contentment or you don't, which isn't much good for someone looking for directions or airbrushed plants to fill the landscape.
Podcast Audio (mp3)