I think there is something that may turn this Lenten season around in me, give it fresh new meaning, a deeper sense of Spirit and truth and Kingdom. Sybil MacBeth’s book, Praying in Color: Drawing a New Path to God has given me permission to pray the way I’ve wanted to pray for awhile, but wasn’t sure it was allowed. Her book comes in a print for adults, and one for kids, too. We can pray through doodling, through drawing, through art,... Read more
At 27 years old, I’m still not sure what to call work. It can be that deep, natural gifting that brings us to life everyday that we engage it; it can be the 8-hour shift we pull to put food on the table, and sometimes, it can be a little bit of both. And if we choose to view our life through the lens of everything-is-holy, maybe work becomes something we do to make our human experience more meaningful in every... Read more
The past few nights, I woke up right around 3:30 AM and couldn’t shut off my mind. And earlier in those same days, I’d tried napping and my mind and heart would interrupt. It seems that my spirit, that God’s voice, is trying to get my attention, and I must listen. I pray for dreams, but instead He wakes me up to dream, awake with Him, to have conversations, to write and process. And I am tired, but I feel... Read more
Jesus, Sometimes our bodies break. They have a lapse in judgment, get sick two times in one week, and it feels like it takes years to be whole again. And we try to read ourselves in the midst of it, try to ask if there is a lesson to be learned, if our souls are trying to get our attention, if our spirits are trying to send us some message about life on earth. But it may just be that... Read more
Ashley and I met at a breakfast place and sat at a table by the window. The air outside was chilly for Georgia, but with Ashley, things always seem warm. She’s the friend I laugh with, the friend I cry with, the friend I ask questions with. So we split some hash browns and drank our coffee with cream and sugar. We talked life and community and what it means to love people. This is what happens when we are... Read more
Sometimes when the boys play in their room, I sit on the bed while they build blocks or pretend to cook, and I read chapter books out loud. Right now, it’s Little House on the Prairie, and next I’ll move on to The Chronicles of Narnia. And while they play, adventure speaks in the background, a constant soundtrack to their imaginations as they engage their world here in our little apartment. And it makes me think of Ruysbroeck, who said: For... Read more
“A monk came to Abba Sisoes and said: ‘what would I do, Abba, for I have fallen from grace?’ And he replied, ‘Get up again.’ The monk came back shortly after and said: ‘What shall I do now, for I have fallen again?’ And the old man said to him, ‘Just get up again. Never cease getting back up again!'” -Sayings of the Elders, The Book of Mystical Chapters There is something to be said for trying, but in our... Read more
If there is ever a time in our adult lives when we feel like little babes, it is when we are sick. Over the weekend I woke up aching, my whole body unable to participate in everyday activities. Sickness always comes at the worst times, always when there are things to get done. And the thing about being sick is that it goes beyond us, and we are at the mercy of our friends and family. It forces us into... Read more
There was this awful kind of hurt that happened one day right before Jesus’s death, when Peter heard a rooster crow, knowing he’d whole-heartedly denied his best friend’s presence in his life. The tension between them when they saw each other again after that must have been deep and thick, nearly tangible. When shame overcomes us, we tell ourselves that we don’t deserve anything. We don’t deserve eye contact, because we’ve pierced the heart. We don’t deserve good, because we have created... Read more
Last night we spread the ashes in a cross over our foreheads, all of us walking a line to the front of the church to tell each other, “You are dust, from beginning to end.” And I felt it, felt like dust. We came from a long day, a week that lasted and lasted until we were bone dry. I felt frail, just like dust, that everyday kind of weary that just comes because of what we’re made of. I... Read more
Stories - with Kaitlin B. Curtice
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