Ever hear of Kairos time? I heard this term used in a new way a couple of weeks ago so began to explore its history and meaning. I am starting to use two ways to look upon this strange uncertain time we are living in and am finding hope and growth in these moments. The word Kairos comes from ancient Greek and means right, critical or opportune moment. The ancient Greeks saw time in two formats: Chronos meaning chronological time (and the way we usually view time in our culture as in minutes and seconds) and Kairos or appointed moment or due season. We ask in Chronos time: What time is it? But the question: what is this time for? carries the meaning of Kairos. What is the significance of this time? Chronos is quantity; Kairos is quality. Chronos is man's way of arranging time, to organize, and attempt to control. Kairos is God's time – in his hands, creative, loving, inviting and shaping. This time we are living in right now – in a time of pandemic and upheaval - … [Read more...]

Ever hear of mentor texts? I hadn't until recently though I have learned the term has been used for quite a while in English classes. Obviously, I haven't been as student for a while.  Ha! I love when a word or phrase rings in your heart, then you see and hear it everywhere. Mentor texts popped up all over and as it turned out, I have been doing this practice and never realized it. What is a Mentor Text? A mentor text is a book that a teacher or student reads and rereads many times.  A writer collects certain forms of writing that resonates with their style and slowly finds their own voice in writing using mentor texts as models.  A reader mirrors their mentor until they find their true self in that reflection. I copy a certain response, thought, behavior that best illustrates how I deeply want to live and write. I study phrases, primary practices, and words that the mentor exhales and I inhale their wisdom to merge with my unique DNA. As a writer, new … [Read more...]

Lamenting. This is a word we don't use much anymore but it is a spiritual practice that arises in a time of grief. Right now, I am overwhelming with loss, sadness, and to be honest, heartache. I am lamenting. I am a number three on the Enneagram so I have much difficulty in naming my emotions. I want to keep up my image of an optimist, in charge Christian. I hold onto the smiling mask to my face so you don't see my weakness. I don't want to bother you with my burdens. But today I will confess I am lamenting. I am grieving. I am crushed with the weight of discouragement and depression. I am not going to list here all the upheaval that I am sure all of us have faced the past few months. You know them. On top of our collective experience, each of us also feels raw from personal disappointments, difficult decisions, and unknown discernment of our next steps. We didn't choose or desire these troubling times. Not your normal hope and uplifting inspiration you usually find here at … [Read more...]

We are in times of uncertainty and many unknowns. Thinking of our present Covid 19 reality reminded me of one of my favorite quotes. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote this in his book, Letters to a Young Poet: "I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." While I love to plan and know things for certain, I am gradually learning the value and lessons in listening to the questions whirling around us during this time. What a spiritual practice for all of us to learn and use – a light that will help us thrive in unclear present moments with unknown … [Read more...]