The Measure of Love

“That is how life can work, as God created it. We all fit together in a great and beloved community where one person’s gift fits another’s need and so there is no lack, no hunger, no division, no jealousy, no hate… It’s not such a far-fetched idea: all the trees around us are doing it right now. When we let God’s love inspire our actions in the world, our true and soulful colors will begin to show through. Our world can—even now–be transformed.”

The Transforming Presence

This week is the third Sunday of our three-week series on the promise of prayer. I’m surprised to find that as we come to the end of this time, I feel like we’re really only just beginning to scratch the surface of the topic. We talked the first week about George Fox’s struggle with despair […]

The Promise of Prayer

It’s good to be back with you this morning, Friends. I wish I could tell you exactly what I did on my very-relaxing-and-wonderful vacation last week, but I have to admit it’s a bit of a blur now. The main thing I remember is that there was a lot of quiet, a lot of peace, […]

Finding a Balance

The week before last at the hospital I gave two workshops on, “Responding to Stress with Creativity and Kindness,” and that’s had me thinking about the importance of balance ever since. Over the last couple of decades, we’ve learned more and more about what living with stress can do to us, inside and out. That’s […]

We, beloved dust of God’s dreams*

Greetings on this Ash Wednesday, Friends. We have created a simple daily reflection calendar of much-loved phrases from early Friends’ writings for the season of Lent. Please download and share as you feel so led. Praying for peace, health, love, compassion, unity, and transformation for all beings. http://www.noblesvillefriends.org/reflections-for-lent.php *Post title from a lovely phrase Pope […]

Feel the Love

I hope this won’t send anyone into a panic, but Valentine’s Day is only three days away. What will you and your sweetheart do? Go out to dinner? Exchange cards? Eat candy? Back when I was in grade school, Valentine’s Day was a big deal. We’d decorate little paper bags with red and pink hearts […]

What’s Your Superpower?

Have you noticed that people seem to be at a loss right now? Our elected officials in Washington are certainly at a loss. Our old comfortable ways of doing things—from diplomacy to entertainment—don’t seem to be working well anymore. Sources we have long turned to for the truth—I’m thinking of Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings here, which […]

What the Heart Knows

Have you ever wondered what it would feel like to have a fully open heart? Mystics write about this, the amazing quality of being able to open your heart in love to whatever is here, whatever is present. St. Francis, the 12th century Catholic friar and mystic who brought us the Canticle of the Creatures, […]

The Gifts of Imperfection

Well, like it or not, we slid on the ice right into a new year. For some of us, the change is jarring—kind of like the way we resist changing to Daylight Savings Time. For others, it’s a relief to see 2017 go. No matter which group you belong to—sad to see the year go […]

Confession, Quaker Style

Last Tuesday night I gave a presentation on the family-centered care at hospice for the folks at the Greenfield Kiwanis Club. The meeting was held in the back of a Ponderosa restaurant and it was just packed in there—there were probably 60 people present. We never did get the technology figured out so the PowerPoint […]

The Space between the Words

There's always room for more.

transformation