Spiritual Practices

Stillness seems to be one of the most challenging, and one of the last, things we want to practice. We hear people say, “We can rest when we are dead.” We have created a society which values action, demands results, thrives on people who make noise. We celebrate people who are adept at drawing attention to themselves, […]

People like to think spiritual life is a source of security, a place to go back to when we are stressed. We expect spiritual life to be like a comfortable blanket or a stuffed toy that makes us feel safe. We want spiritual life to be understandable, to reassure us, to make us feel better.

There are people who believe spiritual practices are serious business. They see them as spiritual disciplines, and are convinced spiritual life needs to be disciplined. Some people almost believe the best spiritual practices for us are nearly painful, filled with struggle. It is almost as if they they think we are not being serious enough if our

Some people believe this weekend is about celebrating the past. Some of us will spend time this weekend remembering how our country began. We will pay tribute to men and women who sacrificed for the sake of independence. We will feel nostalgic for what we think were simpler, better times. We will be grateful for generations before

I have been practicing for almost as long as I can remember. My parents believed practicing and repetition were the best ways to learn things. There was practicing multiplication tables and book reports for school. There was practicing my lines for programs and plays. When I was in the school band, I practiced. All with the understanding

I have been captivated by heavenly lights in the night sky for as long as I can remember. My fascination was encouraged by an uncle who was a NASA engineer. I was awakened to even greater possibilities by a television show. It presented the stars as the “final frontier” and the chance to “explore strange

I can remember, not so long ago, when my spiritual life was focused on knowing. My spiritual practices were about searching and finding. I was essentially a spiritual detective, looking for clues that would answer questions and solve riddles. It was clear that the active person was me, in pursuit of spiritual life. I was

There are people who are passionate about politics. These people connect strongly to candidates and policies that appeal to their own deepest feelings. They might express their political ideals in strong language and memes on social media. These people are not trying to persuade other people to agree with them. Their political ideas and involvement express their strongest,

We tend to forget. Things happen we think we will remember for the rest of our lives, but new experiences crowd them out. Moments we struggle for years to achieve fade into the forgotten past. People who teach us things that change our lives get lost in the crowds that surround us. We become intrigued and