I like the term Lamplighter. I learned this word from wisdom teacher mystic Cynthia Bourgeault who described the spiritual teachers in her life – both ancient and contemporary – as lamplighters, those lighting the way for her path. Isn’t that a cool way of describing people of faith? I love this word and have learned like electric wires lamplighters bringing light into my soul, I too have lamplighters, even a few high-tension ones that boost my spirit beyond the ordinary. Highly charged lamplighters for me are Henri Nouwen, Teresa of Avilla, and Barbara Brown Taylor. In 2003 in my first class to become a spiritual director, they encouraged us to choose (or did that person choose us?) one person to “walk” with for the next three years. We would read about that person, their story, and their spiritual journey. How did faith shape their life? How did they discern which way to go? What worked and what didn’t? We read what others wrote about that person and if … [Read more...]
Rereading Courage – What Have I Learned?
Courage is my word of the year and yet here I am in November wondering if I am really any more courageous or not. Has this word made a difference in my soul? What have I learned? Have I wasted my time? So today I reread all my posts and quotes from the start of 2025, pondering once again this curious word that chose me. Here are gifts Courage gave me this year that surprised me the most. I am sure other lessons will continue to unfold but these are just a few. What do you think? And I will be traveling next week so there will be a one week break from posting here until I get return home and into the routine of writing once again. Blessings! … [Read more...]
Imagining the Bleachers
Are you sitting in the bleachers or in the arena? This image intrigues me. Fellow blogger and friend Lisa wrote a few weeks ago about her recurring dream where she sits in the bleachers watching a game. You can and I hope you do go read her entire post here: Lisa writes, “When I’m a spectator in the bleachers, I have no control over how the game is played. I can’t advise the players. I can’t referee the calls. I can only sit and watch… But not every game is ours to play.” Her words really moved me and the image of sitting in the bleachers as the world, our culture spins out of control resonated deeply with me. That image prompted my imagination and kept recurring into my prayers. It clung to my thoughts. What are our roles in this age of so much upheaval? And are we called just to sit in the bleachers? Maybe we can also be the refs? The photographers on the sidelines? A cheerleader? Can I even leave the game if I don’t like the score? See how her image got my … [Read more...]
Deep Listening
I sat around their kitchen table as they shared tear-filled stories about their wife/mother. We were gathered to plan her funeral service. The room filled with family, warmed by the afternoon sun and lots of love and wrapped with both sorrow, memories and laughter. A bittersweet meeting. I asked a few questions but most of the time I listened. I observed how they looked around, savoring the present moment they now held with each other, realizing how precious life and time is. They thanked me for listening, yet I felt they gave me a gift. They reminded me how important listening to one another can be for healing, comfort, and insight. Listening builds bridges and repairs relationships. Deep listening is also essential for listening to our own soul, for listening to ourselves too. What happens when we listen to ourselves? As a spiritual director I often encourage directees to listen deeply to their own voices, their desires, their hungers. To name them. Many … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Practice of Spaciousness
Can spaciousness be a spiritual practice? Can you cultivate spaciousness? What is spaciousness, anyway? This word entered my heart after a lovely week of relaxation and delightful weather in Florida. My body and my soul felt different. Healed. Whole. Where before the trip I was tense, depressed, and battered by many internal and external storms, a sense of tranquility surrounded me once home. The space within me, my internal spaciousness transformed. I have been on vacations before, but this one was different. I came home with more peace and this sense of fresh spaciousness. What was different? I want to learn from this time so I can carry more spaciousness into my life as I move forward. What elements did I observe? I am one who is always striving and one who likes to stay in control. I am learning as I enter this wonderful later stage of life to lesson my grip on my circumstances and to hold things lightly and be more open and adaptive. What a unique space to live and … [Read more...]
Remembering Your First Real Job
What was your first real job? I know my early ones were babysitting and then in college serving food in the cafeteria and working the dorm’s front desk and being an RA. But I have been reminiscing about that very first “real” job – that full paycheck one. I worked 3-11 pm as an ER nurse in a small rural hospital in NW Ohio. What made me think about that work was when I read that the second Wednesday in October is National Emergency Nurse Day. I never heard that before, have you? I was a new graduate and often worked by myself in a small ER. Man was I green and unexperienced. I did have a great supervisor and had to learn fast. I used all my nursing skills and never knew exactly what kind of cases would be coming “down the ramp” into the ER. Some evenings were quiet and even boring but then the next day we wouldn’t stop and had people of all ages, injuries, illnesses, accidents piling up all over. It could become a crazy chaos quite suddenly. I also gain experience in … [Read more...]
What Are You Enjoying Right Now?
"What are you enjoying right now?" This was the question posed to us around a table of friends last weekend. We all paused and thought for a few minutes. How would you answer? Most of our immediate responses were family. Friends. Health. Then we sat quietly again. Thinking. What else was bringing us joy? What a good question to hold and ponder! I thought of how I am enjoying not having to wake up to an alarm clock every morning. I still like to get up early, but on my own slow waking, more natural time. I love having the window open - feeling the cool morning air and hearing the birds first thing, welcoming the new day. Oh yes, that first sip of my coffee in the morning light. I find joy discovering words/phrases from others full of wisdom and wonder that shimmer in my soul. I love holding those words. Rewriting them. Slowly digesting them into my heart and bones. Somehow they dispel loneliness and connect me across generations and time beyond my understand. … [Read more...]
Four Somethings – 2025 Fall Edition
Fall is in the air and I am certainly in the autumn mood. I have decorated the house and getting the warmer sweaters out. I am ready to cozy up to read by the fireplace and smell a pot of soup bubbling on the stove all day. I do love summer, but each season brings such deliciousness. That is why I love to pause and review my Four Somethings occasionally - things I have read, seen, experienced that made me stop and savor life. Spiritual practices enrich our lives and help us keep us 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. 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 … [Read more...]