I love to create and share my Four Somethings – things I have read, seen, experienced that made me stop and savor life. Spiritual practices enrich our lives and help us keep aligned with God. One practice I frequently promote is reflection – pausing and pondering where you are, where you have come from and where is God inviting you into next. I share bits of wisdom in four categories.Something WiseSomething WonderfulSomething WhisperedSomething Whimsical Gathering Four Somethings makes me aware of all the blessings often hidden under busyness, worries, and distractions. These “somethings” become markers in our spiritual journey. With so much pivoting and uncertainty in our lives right now, being grounded in a simple practice like this guides my way. Something Wise A wise story: "Once an unhappy young apprentice came to an old master and told the master that he was deeply sad and asked for a solution. The old master instructed the unhappy young apprentice to put a handful of … [Read more...]

Holy Week last week affected me deeper than usual. I felt the heaviness of Christ’s sorrow and grief in my soul like a huge solid lump weighing me down. Its presence constant and its immensity relentless. Even though I knew the joy and hope on Easter morning, the exhaustion of grief wore me out. I identified with sorrow on a new level. The past 12 months I experienced many types of losses – some family disruptions, friendship fractures, friends losing loved ones, friends’ loved ones suffering, watching friends’ health slowly deteriorating, watching our country change in ways I can no longer support nor tolerate, so many places and people I love no longer being what they used to be yet not yet what they will become…all losses. No wonder I was ripe and raw for a time of grief. This was a major reason why I began a course in January and am still taking called Grief Companioning. I wanted to be a better listener and fellow pilgrim with my friends and myself in these journeys with … [Read more...]

Do you remember the story I wrote about a few weeks ago about the contemporary light fixture our friends had above their dining room table? (If you missed it, read about it here.)  The one that made me exclaim, “I would never have the courage to try that!” and all the lessons that emerged from that experience? One detail I failed to mention about that light was it was attached to a dimmer switch. I have been pondering about that element lately. I wondered if my courage control knob instead of an on/off toggle were a dimmer dial. Would it make a difference in how I view the word courage? What if courage could be slowly increased incrementally?  What a novel idea – dimmer switch courage! I imagine there are times courage may be needed immediately such as in response to an emergency but other times we can make choices over time too. A bit like deciding how to enter a swimming pool. Some days it is easier just to jump in all at once (the toggle switch); other times we enter … [Read more...]

I enjoy listening to Krista Tibbit and her conversations full of wisdom on the On Being Project. Their words always give life, and something rises within me that makes me think yes maybe the world can be a better place after all. The group recently published what they call their “Grounding Virtues.”  These are the six basic principles that guide the work they do. They believe what they practice, they become. For each virtue, they have written a paragraph full of wisdom and inspiration about each virtue. Well worth reading and pondering, especially since it is such a unique list of principles, don’t you think? Check them out here. Makes me wonder what would be on my list. I took this list on my recent silent retreat and prayed about this. Then remembered in a way I already had my own Grounding Virtues in my Rule of Life. If you are interested in learning more about writing a rule of life, check out my book about Creating A Rule of Life on Amazon. Sorry for the plug… The … [Read more...]

I relearned a lesson a few weeks ago. In fact, two lessons. Sometimes my thick head is so hard God sends me these lessons multiple times – LOL.  Anyway, the lessons were to remind me most of my difficulties are really first world problems and get a perspective in life. I am really quite blessed and can handle most things with some space, a couple of deep breaths and a little bit of time. Maybe a good cry too. I know some problems are much worse, but many of our problems are really nuisances – we make them much more. Well, that is what I did last week! The phone rang and as soon as I saw the caller ID and I knew. It was the Florida resort we were staying at this coming May. The one that was hit by two hurricanes last fall but had reopened.  We had requested pre-storm a specific unit with its own private hot tub in a secluded area.  I specifically made that reservation early to secure that room and was so excited to finally stay in that location. Since we hadn’t heard from them … [Read more...]

We just returned from wonderful visit with college friends who live in Austin Texas. You know the type of lifelong friends that though separated by time and distance, once together it is like you were never apart and pick up the conversation where the words left off years before. And the men often become silly boys once again, but the laughter is so worth it. Yes, so much love! Austin living is quite different from our rural northwest Ohio vibe. They live in a downtown condo, close to restaurants and all the action. Their style varies from ours too. Contemporary vs. traditional. Sleek vs well, let’s say, our home is full of lots of stuff… Above their dining room table was a mesmerizing geometric, elegant chandelier -two long intertwining white light bulbs about three feet long, curving in a spiral suspended above our heads. The above photo isn’t theirs but close to what theirs looked like to give you an idea. I was fascinated by its beauty. It WAS really was gorgeous! Then I … [Read more...]