Aligning with Grace

Advent - A Season for Peace (A Repost) I did not set out to write a series of Advent reflections. I write only when I am inspired to do so - and when I get a clear message that somehow something in my heart must be conveyed... And while I know that not everyone that reads this blog comes from the same spiritual or philosophical background - or even the same interests or convictions - I try to convey messages and values that are both timeless and universal, and accessible to all. And so today, I write of peace, because in the last few days, so many messages received have reminded me of its importance... As I mentioned a few days ago, I have been reading the daily reflections on a a site called "Following the Star," and this weeks entries focus on peace. Forty-two years ago today, Thomas Merton, perhaps the most prolific spiritual writer of all time - and most certainly of the 20th century - died accidentally, while attending a monastic conference in Thailand. ...

Advent - A Time for Miracles (A Repost) I arise in the darkness and am drawn to meditation after a deep, and nourishing sleep... I sit in the stillness, the gentle rain, and the quiet - and give thanks for so many things... I marvel at the beauty of the last few days - sweet time spent with soul friends - and with a community of kindred souls... I am grateful for so many messages given and received... I revel in the opportunities to share with like-minded souls the blessings we have received and the incredible work God is doing in our lives... I sit and I pray - and ask to be shown the way through some situations I must navigate - buoyed by the dearest soul companion who shared her own story and encouraged me to ask every day, to be shown the way - and be willing to discover that the path was always there in front of me - waiting for my recognition... I share with a lovely friend and student - that despite whatever may be - or not be in my life - God's...

Advent - Be Still and Know (A Repost) Perhaps the most unusual film to be released last year was "Into Great Silence." Some of the reviews described this film as: a transcendent experience, intoxicating, and breathtaking. The movie explores the world of the Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps, where Carthusian monks have resided for centuries. The movie has no score, no speaking, and none of the usual things we would expect in a movie. Instead, this film invites us to immerse ourselves fully in the hush of monastic life. It is a world of silence... It reminds me of the psalmist who in Psalm 46 invites us to follow this exhortation from the Divine: Be still and know that I am God. This season invites us into silence. Yet when we venture outside - there is rarely any silence. Every public place we go to provides an onslaught of noises which barrage the senses. Many people have not experienced the joys or the delights of silence. Some are even afra...

Advent - A Season of Light (A Repost) The day begins with wind and rain, and later when I go for a walk, I note that the creeks are swollen, and I can only imagine what the river looks likes. A part of me yearns to take a look, but there are tasks waiting for my attention... Advent is a season that invites light into our lives, just as we are journeying more deeply into darkness... There is a wonderful site with Advent reflections called "Following the Star," that I wrote about on this blog two years ago. And yesterday, I read the selections for the day several times... " People of faith are not unrealistic. We know the world can be a dark place. But we also know that darkness is not all. There is a reason to hope, because there is a light always shining. Watch now for the light...And have your hope renewed..." I thought of the wonderful scripture passage from Isaiah 2:9, and decades ago, when I was a Liturgical musician, I often sang a song bas...

Advent - A Season of Change (A Repost) I make my way down to the river on this rainy morning, and offer my Advent Prayers, on its shores, under an overcast sky... I read this quote by Cardinal John Henry Newman, who began his life as an Anglican, and ended it as a Catholic saint, not that it matters to me. Even as a child, I felt we were all one, and I could not imagine or abide a kind of God that would exclude some of his children from the gift of eternal life, or from sharing at His t able... "To live is to change, and to be perfect, is to have changed often." As I I work through some deep issues, it is obvious that they are once more an invitation to change and to grow. Newman also is quoted as saying that "growth, is the only evidence of life..." Yet change is messy, and painful at times. We can deny what it asks of us - but only to a great cost to our health and well-being. What we bury deep inside has a way of gushing forth out of us ...

Reminders of the power of offering peace and blessings to others, sometimes arrives unexpectedly in our lives.  Like at Costco. Seriously! I was on my way out of Costco this morning, having run in just to get batteries for my new flameless candles which were destined for my fireplace. All I meant to do was to zip in - and just as quickly zip out. Being the introvert that I am, my favorite time to hit the stores is when they open or fairly early during the day, when they are still not relatively crowded or busy.  I was just on my way out, when the elderly Middle Eastern man who has worked there more than a quarter of a century greeted me. I had not seen him lately and had been wondering about him. He is always cheerful, mindful, and I often overhear him dispensing blessings to all he encounters as he checks our receipts and purchases. I stood there for a moment - it wasn't busy, mind you. I looked him in the eye, thanked him, and wished him a good day. He s...

Nearly twelve years ago I started this blog after a visit to the Potomac River, which is about a mile from my home. I had not planned on writing, I just came home and did so, following an inner prompting. For years I came down to the river regularly. One year, it was almost a daily occurrence, and I sat on a bench during all seasons to do some meditative practices which evolved over time and transformed me in the process.  Recently, I received a message which I perceived intuitively. "Go back to the river. And take up these three practices once again. You need them!" And so, I listened. Over the course of the next few entries, I will share these easy practices with you. They are simple practices, but powerful ones. As I mentioned in my last entry, the purpose of spiritual practices and prayers is to transform ourselves, not others. Although others may change as a result of our own evolution as a spiritual being, that is not the focus here. It is about...

Silence is a superpower. I bet you never knew that! Neither did I, actually. I was just talking to my dear friend Lisa recently, and we discussed our different strengths. Sometimes we don't really see ours - or at least, they may not be immediately visible to ourselves or to others. My friend and I spoke about how some people come into the world to make a splash, but others affect the world more quietly. Some come in to anchor energy, and by their quiet, and unnoticed contributions, they still manage to make a big difference. Some of us shift energy quietly and gently. Some of us teach. And others listen and learn. But the truth is, we all do this at various times throughout our lives. We are teachers and students to one another over and over again. Some of us are here to be activists. Some of us hold space for others. And a rare few can serve both roles just as skillfully. Lisa described all of these abilities as superpowers that we have and can deploy as...

Journaling has been a part of my life in some format or another for as long as I can remember.  I have a small book shelf with journals going back to my early teens. I have poetry manuscripts. Notebooks of prose. I have scrapbooks of favorite quotes and passages from books. I even have autobiographical collections - journals of spiritual experiences, of dreams, of pregnancy and my son's first year of life. The point is, journaling can take on all different kinds of forms depending on your needs at the time. You can even have several journals running concurrently! A few months ago, as the year was drawing to a close, I decided that I would write as often as possible in my main journal, which is the one in the middle in the picture below. But I also found a need to establish two others. The one on the left is my "health" journal so to speak. I just simply jot down the things I did that day that contributed to greater health of mind, spirit, and body - not to judge m...

I have been watching these ducks at the pond for the last few days, in the crisp morning air. Sometimes they come closer, and other times they simply glide on by, oblivious to my presence. A couple of days ago, after my meditation, I watched them for quite some time, and as they came closer, I felt myself merge with them, becoming one with them, and their breathtaking spirits! I was filled with love for them, and it expanded right out of my heart! I felt one with them - they were no longer Other, but a part of me, as I was a part of them. "You are so beautiful!" I cried out! "We are ALL beautiful!" I also thought. Yes - every living thing is - if we only take the time to notice it and realize it. In that moment, there was such a sense of oneness and connection that I experienced, that went beyond these beautiful creatures. In a world that seems so torn and divided - where just reading the morning headlines can be a virtual assault and vexation, shocking ...

"You never step into the same river twice." ~ Heraclitus Nothing is ever the same. Everything changes. This river, that I have visited - at times nearly every day - over the space of a decade, is not the same. But then neither am I. I came to this river, suggested as a meeting place by a friend during a time of neediness and great pain and impending transitions. I came back, many a morning, feeling alone, having hit rock bottom, in the throws of deep depression, to do a rosary of spiritual practices: Lovingkindness meditations, Reiki chants, actual rosaries, prayers both traditional and spontaneous, the offering of blessings, and whatever else arose from the depths of my soul. For several years I came, almost daily. One morning, while sitting on a boulder by the riverbank, the river beckoned me to come inside. And so I did. I bought a kayak without even thinking about it, and spent a few years paddling upstream - repeating mantras, reciting prayers, while receiving...