In my work as a hospice chaplain, I am blessed to be able to spend time talking with people about the best—and sometimes the hardest—times of their lives. Folks often enjoy looking back, savoring the wonderful things they were able to do and enjoy and feeling some sense of accomplishment that they made it through […]
Read more "Finding the Blessing"This seems like a good query for the start of 2023: How often do you really praise God? Like, I mean really. With your whole heart full of gratitude, just spilling out in thanks. Let me give you an example of what I mean. This week I was waiting a bit anxiously to see whether […]
Read more "Bless the Lord, O My Soul"Well, happy New Year, Friends. I hope you’re feeling hopeful and looking forward to all that 2023 will bring. As one year transitions to the next, it’s a natural time for us to reflect on what we’ve just lived through—we take a moment to look back, so we can move forward a little wiser, with […]
Read more "Starting with a Clean Heart"I hope you had an enjoyable Halloween and celebrated it in the way that felt right to you. Some people in recent years have stopped passing out candy—it’s expensive and with COVID there was a chance you could pass along more than Snickers bars. I have never been a big Halloween person myself, but I […]
Read more "The Way of Quaker Saints"When you think back over the last week, how much of God’s light do you think you shared with others? How often did you feel it yourself? We rarely think of looking at life that way or gauging the success of our days based on how often we smiled, how many times we were kind, […]
Read more "Let Your Light Shine"Good morning, Friends! I felt inspired to begin posting brief daily reflections on our Quaker Morning page again yesterday and just wanted to let you all know. There isn’t really a game plan for these mini-podcasts; I simply want to share the ideas that bubble up during my quiet time at the start of the […]
Read more "Quaker Morning Dawns (again)"I’d like to start off this morning with a kind of informal survey. Raise your hand if you are able, perhaps fairly regularly, to have a completely peaceful day. Okay, leave your hand up if you are able to experience peace two or three days in a row. How about a week? Is there anyone […]
Read more "A Peace That Lasts"When you were little, did you say prayers when you went to bed each night? Maybe your mom or dad said them with you, or you might have prayed by yourself in the quiet of your room. Every night I prayed that little prayer we probably all know by heart: Now I lay me down […]
Read more "Ways to Pray"Yesterday afternoon, when it had warmed up enough for gardening, I spent a good long while carefully combing through a flower bed out back, trying to pull the wild strawberry plants out of the Dianthus. I don’t begrudge the strawberries their exuberance—they have lovely green leaves, sunny yellow flowers, and bright red berries—but they are […]
Read more "Taming the Wild"Last week, on Easter Sunday, we heard the miraculous story of the women’s encounter with the angels at the tomb—how these mysterious men dressed in clothes that gleamed like lightning told them, “He is not here! He has risen, just as he said!” We heard how the women hurried excitedly back to where the disciples […]
Read more "Signs and Wonders"
The Space between the Words 