Posts on Spirituality:
Redefining “Sacred”
A few years back, my oldest daughter told me about a podcast she’d discovered called Harry Potter and the Sacred Text....
Seemingly Random Things
My oldest daughter lives about 9.5 hours away; a reasonable road-trip. So, in preparation for my most recent trek her...
Rebellion as a Spiritual Practice
Most if not all of us battle with the tension between our own desires, our deep sense of what’s most true, our certain...
Daily Life and the Spiritual Journey
I read and highlighted these two sentences recently: The spiritual journey is what the soul is up to while we attend...
Devotion instead of To-Do’s
If you grew up in a world anything like mine. Devotion(s) were something you did - religiously - if you were...
Belief: Then & Now
There was a time in which any question about what I believed merited a simple, obvious, and expected answer. After...
Wisdom does as Wisdom says
Women hold all the wisdom they could ever need, that the planet could ever need, that the world so desperately needs....
A DSM-V Code
Did you know that there is a DSM-V code for religious or spiritual problems? Yep: V-Code 62.89. Apparently it is...
If we could have coffee together…
If you and I were sitting across from each other, sipping coffee, it would be inevitable that eventually I would tell...
The Widow of Nain
There is an ancient story told of a widow whose only son died. With him went her last semblance of family, belonging,...
My Inner Critic = The Patriarchy
I was recently organizing files on my computer (something I do when I intend to write, but instead find busy work…)...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #6
Today concludes this 6-part series on (Sacred) Conversation with your Heart. I am hopeful, though, that it is just the...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #3
PART THREE – HEARING DEEPER TRUTHS My heart does not steer me wrong. It may speak to me of things I’m not yet ready...
Easter 2017
I will not be attending Easter services today. I will not witness the rows of shiny, white patent-leather shoes,...
A Reflection on 12
12 represents the completed cycle of experience. 12 is the symbol of cosmic order. There are 12 months in a year. Time...
A story for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day used to be the hardest day of the year for me – when lost in the throes of infertility. That is no longer...
Tears
Tears are a river that takes you somewhere...Tears lift your boat off the rocks, off dry ground, carrying it downriver...
When Darkness Threatens
But a grave separateness has invaded the world... ~ Naomi Shihab Nye It is said that in the beginning, darkness...
Letting Go is NOT Falling Apart
A wise woman tells me she gets this strong sense that I am unable to really let go; like I’m afraid of letting my hair...
Easter and Eve
What if Easter was about Eve? What would it be like if the entire “Christian” world celebrated the day that Eve ate...
Imagining God’s Voice as “She”
I know. I know. God is neither a man nor a white-bearded patriarch in the sky. And yes, I know that God is not a woman...
Head acknowledged. Heart aflame.
Something within you knows that you bring a seeing, a knowing, a perspective to this world that, once expressed, might...
How to Deepen Your Spirituality
One of the most powerful ways in which we infuse and strengthen our own spirituality is to expand it beyond ourselves....
The other woman
Every once in a while, out of the corner of my eye, I glimpse the other woman. She looks so much like me, but wilder...
Sophia and Quantum Physics
I had to figure out how to find Sophia. Or make the space for her to find me. One day I came to realize that she’s...
On a Wire
Early in the morning I sat on the couch, my laptop awaiting the click-click-click of my brain and its compliant...
Giving Up On God
Giving up on God: I’m considering it. I don’t ponder this from an atheistic precipice or in a state of existential...
The God of Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time. There was a day when these four small words would instantly transport my eldest daughter to another...
You are not alone. I promise.
A dated a man who often said, “At the end of the day, we’re all alone.” He meant it in a sort-of existential way (and...
…a marvelous exchange.
I came across this poem by Macrina Wiederkehr this afternoon in A Tree Full of Angels: Seeing the Holy in the...
How to make sense of ambivalence…
There is a verse in the book of Job that captures ambivalence - without making much sense of it at all: Will you...
Some Advent Reflections (2)
Sunday, December 9 – Scripture Readings:Psalm 114, 115; Amos 6:1-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:5-12; Luke 1:57-68 I’m struck...
My Proclivity for Lists
I’m a list-maker, I admit it. I not only make them, I complete them. I can have multiple lists running at the same...
Asking “what-if” questions
These days, at Mars Hill Graduate School, we are considering a lot of “What if” questions: What if you truly loved...
Choose Life
I spent a couple of lovely hours with a young woman this morning who asked me what I thought about spiritual...
Prophet as Female
While I was still a student at The Seattle School, I remember hearing one of my professors lecture on the categories...
Spirituality sans God
Last weekend I received an email that began with these words from John O’Donohue: There is a place in you where you...
About Rest
In her book, Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto, Tricia Hersey says this: “Rest is radical because it disrupts the lie...
If I had a Book Group
I ordered a book a few weeks back, but have basically avoided it since it arrived. Well, until a couple morning’s ago...
About angels in black tights…and signs…
This post is about signs. Looking for them. Spotting them. Trusting them. ‘Seems right to start things off with a sign...
Why I’ve Given Up on Prayer
I grew up in a very strong faith tradition, so have always had a clear understanding of prayer: its purpose, its...
Sit still. Be quiet. Feel.
Now that both of my girls live miles, states, and flights away from me, I find myself transitioning into what it means...
If your stories could talk…
A number of years ago I learned about intertextuality. It is how one text speaks to or shapes another; how seemingly...
A late-night text
I’ve been thinking about the wisdom that has shaped much of my life. I’m grateful for some of it, to be sure. There’s...
The power of women’s stories…and yours!
There’s an old, old story told that begins with a narcissistic, paranoid, and power-hungry man (which sounds vaguely...
Fanning Desire’s Flame
Desire is a tricky thing. To desire feels dangerous because we might not get what we want. To desire is risky because,...
About Being Ubiquitous
This post could be entitled About Being God Without Realizing Such. I came across this word while reading a novel a...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #5
We’re moving toward the end of this 6-part series. I am hopeful it has done your heart good – especially given that...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #2
Today features Part 2 in a 6-part series that’s all about Sacred Conversation – not with me, but with your heart. You...
Somewhere between Kali and Jesus
I am Kali Ma.I stick my tongue out of my once silent lips.These eyes, no longer mild,Are furious daggers of fire.~ a...
On the Phone vs. In a Pew
I had a conversation yesterday with a friend. She’s married. I’m not anymore. She lives in the South. I definitely do...
Why didn’t you just say so?
I’ve been binge-watching The Newsroom for the past week. This morning I woke up far too early for a weekend-day....
Tidings of Great Joy
It’s an early evening in December, 1966. I am six years old, standing on a stage, proudly fulfilling the prestigious...
Messy is Preferable
Sunday morning was a known and predictable entity for me while growing up; a thing in and of itself. No question ever...
A freewrite on faith
There have been times in which my own writing has taken me to places of surprise, insight, and even tears. Some...
In the midst . . .
Here is what I know about you: Right now, in the midst, you embody the Feminine. Right now, in the midst, you inhale...
The Sacred in a High School Gym
Yesterday morning I sat in a high school gym surrounded by teenagers. The Veteran’s Day Assembly. I wasn’t there...
Just this . . .
Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid. ~ Frederich Buechner
(Not) throwing the baby out . . .
When you grow up steeped in religion, attending church every Sunday, knowing Bible stories better than fairytales and...
An Easter Reflection
I will not be attending Easter services today. I will not witness the rows of shiny, white patent-leather shoes,...
Believing in Another World
The debate is long, old, and exhausting. Is there life beyond ours, in other places, on other planes or planets. Is...
Choose to Believe – If Only For Today
Easter Sunday is the most significant day on the Christian church calendar. Marking and celebrating the resurrection...
A Woman’s Faith
It takes faith to be a woman. Whether married or single; a mother or not; a lover and/or friend; self-employed, other...
Being Certain about Uncertainty
Faith is not being sure. It is not being sure, but betting with your last cent . . . Faith is not a series of...
Pregnancy. Infertility. Faith.
The Ending:One day, out of the blue, unexpected, unanticipated, unbelievable, I was pregnant. And again, 15 months...
Spiritual wisdom from Elizabeth Gilbert
I’m about 2/3 of the way through Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Not only do her words make me wish I could...
Some Advent Reflections (4)
The Polar Express, Ahaz, Joseph, and me... Sunday, December 23 – Scripture Readings:Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19; 24; Isaiah...
Some Advent Reflections (1)
In the spirit of Advent – the beginning of the church year – I decided to begin something (again): I went to church....
About Connection and Stamps (and God)
about reconnecting:Just a few minutes ago I finished writing a note to a person I haven’t been in touch with for over...
On Womens’ Suffering
I was at a conference last weekend in Syracuse, NY, at which a number of theologians, philosophers, and educators...
Whose Story Am I In?
I just finished writing this entire post, went to read through it from the beginning before hitting “publish,” and...
Mystery and Magic
We can never know with any degree of certainty all the ways in which our choices, our life, has rippled far, far...
Use Your Imagination
There is something incredibly powerful about good fiction, yes? The craft of it. The story itself. And the imagination...
4 Things I Want You to Know
As you undoubtedly know, I spend countless hours (decades, really) in the midst of ancient, sacred stories of women....
What if your spirituality was easy?
I would not use the word “easy” or “ease” to describe my experience of being a spiritual person (at least in the first...
On hope (via Emily Dickinson)
I have always loved these stanzas by Emily Dickinson: Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soulAnd sings...
Changing Everything
If you want to learn about a culture, listen to the stories. If you want to change a culture, change the stories. This...
Hearing Voices
I am neck-deep in manuscript-writing these days. This book, my book, this thing I've been nurturing and holding and...
Go Deeper Still, Still…
(I first published this post on 12/31/14. It seems to me to be as relevant as ever.) Go deeper still... You already...
Believing the Voice Within You
A voice dwells within you that can be trusted, that longs to be listened to, that consistently speaks truth. I...
These Stories Still Speak
I’ve been awake since 4:30 this morning. Uncharacteristically, instead of lying in bed and trying to tame my...
God on a Woman’s Terms
For most of us, the word "sacred" conjures some thought of God. Perhaps you associate this with a positive set of...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #4
PART FOUR – SPEAKING DEEPER TRUTHS Conversation, of course, is more than just listening. At its best, it is filled...
Sacred Conversation with Your Heart – #1
Today starts a 6-part series that’s all about Sacred Conversation – not with me, but with your heart. Each post will...
Why Stories Matter
We live in a world of stories. Childhood fairytales shape our dreams and hopes. Family legends, imparted over kitchen...
It’s all going to end badly
A few weeks ago, while talking to my therapist, I mentioned my ongoing and haunting hunch that the archetype of the...
On Miracles
I made a video a few days back in which I talked of Tabitha. Little known. Rarely told. Hugely significant. (This...
A woman’s heart = experiencing God
From the beginning of time we have been asking questions about the Divine. The form, complexity, and context of the...
Permission Granted: the God YOU choose
It used to be, when lost in places of confusion, hurt, or pain, I would turn to the God of whom I’d been told and...
Channeling Etta James
It’s just before 7:00 on Friday night. I sit in the high school auditorium, about the fifth row from the front, and...
The Full Moon and other thoughts
Whoever you are: some evening take a step out of your house, which you know so well. Enormous space is near. ~...
Everything is Sacred
“In this moment, everything is sacred.” ~ Ariel Books Oh, how we long to accede to this intellectually, but far more,...
Speak your mind. Tell your truth.
She felt as though her life was some kind of hellish test; as though the universe was conspiring against her; like the...
Women’s Wisdom: Inextinguishable
I’ll admit that I have been known to doubt the efficacy and relevance of my own words and work. The endless call to...
Transforming Your Story (Part 3)
Transforming Your Story – The “How” Part 3 of a series. 12 posts scattered throughout 2014 on Transforming Your Story....
TRUTH is a warrior
I’ve spent the last few days at a beautiful, private, and extremely quiet place. I’ve spent a lot of time looking out...
Holy Week and Les Miserables
It’s Holy Week. As is often the case this time of year, I feel some ambivalence: a tinge of regret, a flood of...
The “but” changes everything.
With an hour’s drive ahead I pulled up Google on my iPhone – on the hunt for a scintillating audio to keep me company....
Elegance & Crudeness
A quickly-composed and deeply-felt post in the middle of my day... Despite all obstacles placed in my way, many of...
“The greatest day ever!!!”
I went to the grocery store a few days back, irritated that I had to make the trip in the first place. Stepping out of...
Song as Metaphor for a Woman’s Journey
For it was there that they asked us,our captors, for songs,our oppressors, for joy.“Sing to us,” they said,“one of...
Some Advent Reflections (3)
Tidings of Comfort and Joy Sunday, December 16 – Scripture Readings:Psalm 63, 98; Amos 9:11-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3,...
Playing Poker with God
So often we frantically seek for an explanation to our suffering, to the things in our own life and in the world that...
This Father’s Day
I find myself in a sort of a gray place today. Granted, it’s the Seattle area and the skies are often as they look...
Choosing the Storm
I’ve been thinking a lot about how strong my proclivity is for calm; for a life that is tame, sedate, and...
I Am This Woman
I wrote what follows for the women’s event, Conversations (mentioned in my last post). As the days have progressed...