Just Keep Swimming Discernment Category
My White Privilege: An Unexpected But Unsurprising Glimpse
Posted on June 29, 2019 1 Comment
This week I had to check my whiteness two times, first at the ONA Coalition National Gathering and then at the UCC General Synod. The lesson was reinforced for me that, even though I have more than one historically marginalized marker with which I identify (gender and sexuality), that does not mean I am enlightened […]
The Choice to Live Passionately
Posted on March 30, 2019 Leave a Comment
My Spiritual Formation this week is from What Matters Most: Ten Lessons in Living Passionately from the Song of Solomon by Renita Weems. She takes takes the “ten lessons” from the Shulammite woman’s fearless living and loving in the Song. Interestingly, I’ve heard the Song of Solomon called “The Porn Book of the Bible,” which […]
(An) Embodied Prayer
Posted on March 22, 2019 Leave a Comment
Two words concerning prayer life resonate with me this week: intention and attention. I sometimes fret about my prayer life, especially when I hear my fellow seminarians openly talking about theirs; I even have a professor outside of this class who returns our attention to prayer life. This week’s reading reminds us that naming our […]
Thoughts on Prayer Following the Christchurch Massacre
Posted on March 15, 2019 1 Comment
As I write this, another heinous mass shooting has taken place by white supremacists, this time in New Zealand. Almost 50 of our Muslim neighbors were murdered and 20 seriously injured, killed while they were praying. This attack is on my mind and heart as I contemplate this week’s Core Forum on prayer. As one […]
The Curious State of Being “Called”
Posted on December 3, 2018 Leave a Comment
Maybe at some point in your life you have been called by God for some purpose. If you have and you realize it, all I can say is wow. How did you know? Did you hear a voice? Did you have a feeling around your heart or stomach area? Was there only circumstantial evidence? A call is […]
The Journey Begins
Posted on November 19, 2018 Leave a Comment
Thanks for joining me! Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton This is a place for peaceful contemplation inspired by story. What is spiritual mindfulness? For me, it is remembering to feed my spirit. This blog is a spiritual practice~~storying the soul, if you will. Most sites I find […]
On (Not) Minding Mortality
Posted on November 19, 2018 Leave a Comment
Yesterday I was reminded by two different folks of my blog, which is the first item put on hold when life gets really busy. Blog writing–reflective essays, really–is my favorite kind of writing, and I always mean to do better about not neglecting it. If I could do this for a living, I believe I […]
Lessons from My Face
Posted on March 2, 2018 Leave a Comment
Prompt from Mindfulness: A Journal (Price, 2016) Make a list of ten everyday activities that you find relaxing or soothing–even those as small as calling a friend or making a cup of your favorite tea. Try it! Do one of the activities on your list and write about your experience. The List, in no particular […]
Watershed: Three Questions and Mindfulness
Posted on April 4, 2017 Leave a Comment
There’s a line in the Indigo Girls song Watershed that goes, Every five years or so I look back on my life, and I have a good laugh. Absolutely worth pausing to enjoy: The line reminds me of a therapy session I had a little less than a decade ago. I’m a firm believer in […]
God Laughs, or Fun with Bell’s Palsy
Posted on March 16, 2017 7 Comments
You make your plans, and God laughs. That’s what happened to me over the weekend. Let me go back, though, and start with discovering the Atlanta Freedom Bands, which I wrote about here in November 2014. I recollected how finding the band made me realize how much I had missed making music, marching in parades, […]
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