Tag: Contemplative Life
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to Sabbath like a lizard
To Sabbath Like a LizardI didn’t read my Bible today.I sprawled out on our aging deckand kicked off my shoes.The skin of my bellyinadvertently made contactwith the sun-warmed wood underneath.I can see why lizards do this, I thought.I heard the leaves rustle overheadas the breeze swept through my haira dog barkeda bird warbledI became aware […]
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Holy Drudgery
“Anything can become a spiritual practice once you are willing to approach it that way—once you let it bring you to your knees and show you what is real…” -Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World When I’m anxious, I make my way to the laundry area before I even realize it. I watch […]
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breath prayer for anxious souls
Breath Prayer for Anxious Souls Inhale: O Holy One, come swiftly. Exhale: Return me to myself. Breath Prayer for Authenticity Inhale: Emmanuel, God with us, Exhale: Help me stay with myself. God gave each of us the gift of a Self. During panic attacks, high anxiety or high emotion moments, or just regular old stress […]
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liminal space
“Much of the work of authentic spirituality and human development is to get people into liminal space and to keep them there long enough that they can learn something essential and new.” -Fr. Richard Rohr “Liminal space” derives from the Latin for “threshold.” It is the space where we are no longer where we were […]
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belonging vs. fitting in
Image contents: a poppy in a field of larkspurs. Text says,“‘If I get to be me, I belong. If I have to be like you, I fit in.’ Braving the Wilderness by Brené Brown” I’ve long grappled with a sense of not quite fitting in wherever I go and have always wondered if everyone else […]
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certainty vs. clarity
Image text: We can’t always have the certainty we want, but discernment allows us to find the clarity we need. One of the driving needs for Enneagram 6s is for certainty, though no doubt other personality types gravitate toward certainty-seeking, as well. We like to know what’s coming so we can prepare ourselves, even if […]
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deconstruction resources: books
Someone recently asked for suggestions for resources as they begin the process of faith deconstruction. As I was thinking over the books and podcasts that have been most helpful to me over the past five years or so, I thought it might be helpful for others, as well. I know deconstruction means different things to […]
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nothing has changed, but everything looks different
Four years ago today, I snapped this picture of one small, red suitcase and captioned it, “One tiny suitcase is all you need when you’re packing for one. I had forgotten what that’s like!” I was leaving my 1 year old and my preschooler to go to Houston for two nights. It was the first […]
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4 AM panic prayer
I woke up at 3:15 this morning in a panic. A nagging pain in my side, coupled with some other minor health issues over the past couple days, triggered anxiety-inducing memories of some medical emergencies I’ve had over the last few years. I tried my go-to coping strategies but was struggling with an inconvenient middle-of-the-night […]