I love this poem by Emily Dickinson: If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robinUnto his nest again,I shall not live in vain.[i] She suggests that life doesn’t have to be filled with big accomplishments to …
How easily do we slip into abstraction while real people are counting coins at the grocery store? Loud voices are saying, “They just need to work harder,” as if effort alone could outpace rent and medical bills. Then there is the spiritual bypass of saying, “It’s all part of the divine plan,” as if that …
“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder… Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” Rumi This quote by Rumi really speaks to my heart this morning. We can easily become discouraged when we look at challenges in the world that are so big that we wonder how we can help. When I …
When the outside world gets angrier and louder, that is when we need the Sabbath the most. It gives us the opportunity to rest in the Stillness and to be held in God’s love. It is an opportunity to restore, renew and reframe what is occurring in the outer world and our place in it. …
Read this slowly. Let it settle into your heart. Visualize the atrocities being committed around the world in the name of justice, protection, untamed power, and spite. Imagine your own home destroyed. Your family gone. Your loved ones called to war, returning in a box. And then ask yourself: Do I still support this? Judy …
I had an epiphany today, and it feels like a big relief. I’m giving up my role as the morality police. Somewhere along the way, I must have picked up the idea that other people’s choices were my concern and that I needed to monitor, correct, or hold the line for what was right. It …
This morning, I am speaking from a rested heart, not untouched by the world but balanced enough to tell the truth about what so many of us are feeling. There is a wave of grief moving through our country and our world right now. It is a sense of tearing, as if something in the …
There are two trees growing in the garden of our human experience. One is the Tree of God Consciousness. It’s branches are heavy with sweet, nourishing fruit. This fruit is filled with truth, love, compassion, wisdom, discernment, generosity and understanding. When we partake of it, we become those qualities. We feel full, grounded and whole.The …
My world changes as I focus on the good. It is not because I ignore challenges, but because I choose where to place my attention and my trust. What I notice grows and what I bless expands. What I appreciate becomes more visible, more available, and more alive. Every time I turn toward the good, …
For years, many of us have whispered, “Peace is coming.” We have especially felt it in moments of reprieve, in seasons of hope. But now, as fear surges through our country and cruelty gains ground, even the most faithful among us may find ourselves asking, “Where is God in the midst of this?” I have …