It’s so good to have you all with us on World Quaker Day! All over the world just now, on different continents and in different time zones, Quakers are gathering together and celebrating and sharing the essence of the growing faith that animates and unfolds our lives. If you are new to Quakerism, you might […]
Read more "God-with-Us: Stories of Faith"Last Monday on my way to the hospital, against the soft blue and gold of the morning sky, I saw two different murmurations. Seemed like a miracle—or a message. So beautiful! And mysterious. In case you don’t remember what a murmuration is, it is a big, flowing flock of birds—starlings, scientists say, in groups sometimes […]
Read more "Joyful Murmurations"Do you remember that hopeful quote from George Fox where he says he saw an ocean of darkness that was swept over by an infinite ocean of light? We’re just about ready for that big wave of goodness to sweep over our world, aren’t we? This week has been harrowing, with the unprovoked attack by […]
Read more "A Force for Good"Are you curious about the title of today’s message? I was too, when I started writing it. But I can tell you, now that it is done, it is a message about memory, about finding truth, and about how spirit turns everything to good, even our flaws and mistakes and blind spots. When we learn […]
Read more "Kodachrome"For the past two weeks I’ve been reading a book about mindfulness called, Relax and Be Aware. The ideas it contains are at the same time, simple and clear as well as profoundly deep and challenging. The author teaches meditation at a center in Myanmar (me-yan-mar) and in his book, he invites readers to become […]
Read more "In Reach of Wisdom"You may have noticed that now that the days are getting warmer, the birds are back in the mornings. And I’m not talking about one or two lonely birds with thin, warbly voices, braving the cold to offer their thin, pure melodies. I’m talked about rich and riotous songs of all kinds—cardinals and robins and […]
Read more "Life’s Soundtrack"Today’s message is about the power of example and the way our lives speak—knowingly or not, and for good or for ill—into the lives of others. We never really know when our actions will leave a lasting impact on someone else. It might be the time we helped someone pick up a bag of groceries […]
Read more "The Power of Presence"Many years ago, when my children were small and we lived together in a big limestone farmhouse in Columbus, Indiana, I was living a busy and often stressful life. I was a self-employed writer with a small business and juggling a busy household and school activities with deadlines, editors, and more. It was often my […]
Read more "Opening, Again, to Joy"I imagine that you are, like I am, still processing and trying to understand the events of the last couple of weeks in our country. Our souls were shocked to see such violence and disrespect—disregard for the well-being of people and traditions and institutions. And we are still on edge as we hear about safety […]
Read more "Remembering Prayer"Yesterday was such a beautiful gift of a day. After so many days of rain this week, yesterday dawned cloudless as the sun rose in a clear blue sky. As morning moved toward afternoon, the sunlight just poured in all the windows along the southern side of my house—I love that!–it floods the sunroom, spreads […]
Read more "The Work of the Light"
The Space between the Words 