Category Spiritual Reminders
The Sweetness of Dogs (by Mary Oliver) What do you say, Percy? I am thinking of sitting out on the sand to watch the moon rise. It’s full tonight. So we go and the moon rises, so beautiful it makes… Continue Reading →
God of My Future O, God of My Future: Today, I dive into waters, unknown. The sudden embrace of its cold startles me, awakens hiding fear. I do not know about the next, or how it may be cruel. I… Continue Reading →
Saint Francis and the Sow (by Galway Kinnell) The bud stands for all things, even for those things that don’t flower, for everything flowers, from within, of self-blessing; though sometimes it is necessary to reteach a thing its loveliness, to… Continue Reading →
“In the midst of winter, I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.” – ALBERT CAMUS Dear God, may this be true for all who struggle, anytime of the year, with low grade depression or situational despair. Could it… Continue Reading →
A Poem in a Bar – My Worst Day Ever? Today was the absolute worst day ever And don’t try to convince me that There’s something good in every day Because, when you take a closer look, This world is… Continue Reading →
Late Fragment (by Raymond Carver) And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so? I did. And what did you want? To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth. The desire of our hearts?… Continue Reading →
Shoveling Snow With Buddha (by Billy Collins) In the usual iconography of the temple or the local Wok you would never see him doing such a thing, tossing the dry snow over a mountain of his bare, round shoulder, his… Continue Reading →
The Parable of the Twins – For a unique perspective on death as “life after life.” Once upon a time, a set of twins were conceived in the same womb. Weeks passed, and the twins developed. As their awareness grew,… Continue Reading →
We Were Made for These Times (by Clarissa Pinkola Estes) My friends, do not lose heart. We were made for these times. I have heard from so many recently who are deeply and properly bewildered. They are concerned about the… Continue Reading →
"God, help me to believe the truth about myself, no matter how beautiful it is." Macrina Wiederkehr
A wonderful simple prayer to pray to remember the truth of "No condemnation." Listen here.
What Did I Miss? A soul came into a new body, and immediately, forgetting what she was here for, fell asleep at the beginning of her life. The personality she became went about the business of being human, completely unaware… Continue Reading →
“Bidden or unbidden, God is present.” – CARL JUNG Some say Desiderius Erasmus said this or perhaps Carl Jung popularized it. But whoever coined it first – I love the eternal truth of it. and it’s even fun to say… Continue Reading →
You Don’t Have to Act Crazy Anymore (by Hafiz) You don’t have to act crazy anymore, We all know you were good at that. Now retire, my dear, From all that hard work you do Of bringing pain to your… Continue Reading →
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” – RUMI
The Parable of the Birds (Told by Paul Harvey) The man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family, upright in his dealings with… Continue Reading →
Blessing for the Longest Night (by Jan Richardson) All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for this night. It has practiced walking in the dark, traveling with its eyes… Continue Reading →
The Prodigal Son in the Key of F Feeling footloose and frisky, a featherbrained fellow forced his father to fork over his farthings. Fast he flew to foreign fields and frittered his family’s fortune, feasting fabulously with floozies and faithless… Continue Reading →
Love After Love (by Derek Wolcott) The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other’s welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You… Continue Reading →
Welcome Morning (by Anne Sexton) There is joy in all: in the hair I brush each morning, in the Cannon towel, newly washed, that I rub my body with each morning, in the chapel of eggs I cook each morning,… Continue Reading →
“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.” – MEISTER ECKHART
“If I had my life to live over again,” is an article written by humorist and newspaper columnist Erma Bombeck after she found out she had a fatal disease. My mom enjoyed her writing and I’ve also enjoyed this column… Continue Reading →
Otherwise (by Jane Kenyon) I got out of bed on two strong legs. It might have been otherwise. I ate cereal, sweet milk, ripe, flawless peach. It might have been otherwise. I took the dog uphill to the birch wood…. Continue Reading →
“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” – OSCAR WILDE
A Brief for the Defense (by Jack Gilbert) Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies are not starving someplace, they are starving somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. But we enjoy our lives because that’s what God wants. Otherwise the… Continue Reading →
Our Town by Thornton Wilder (The scene in Act Three where Emily comes back to her life and relives the morning of her 12th birthday. The specifics of the scene are moving. For example how her parents call for their… Continue Reading →
The Life of a Day (by Tom Hennen) Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has its own personality quirks, which can easily be seen if you look closely. But there are so few days as compared to… Continue Reading →
Choosing to Dance with Mary “When I was in the sixth grade I was an all-American. I was smart, athletic, witty, handsome–especially with my Vaselined hair wave sweeping back from my forehead. And I was incredibly nice. Things went downhill fast… Continue Reading →
“When I have a terrible need of – shall I say the word – religion. Then I go out and paint the stars.” – VINCENT VAN GOGH
Fully Alive (by Dawna Markova) I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less… Continue Reading →
Autumn (by Rainer Maria Rilke) The leaves are falling, falling as if from far up, as if orchards were dying high in space. Each leaf falls as if it were motioning “no.” And tonight the heavy earth is falling away… Continue Reading →
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.” – ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Uncle Seamus: In The Wisdom of Tenderness, Brennan Manning tells the story of Edward Farrell, a man who traveled from his hometown of Detroit to visit Ireland, where he would celebrate his uncle’s 80th birthday. Early on the morning of… Continue Reading →
The Parable of the Flood A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately…. Continue Reading →
“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – TEILHARD DE CHARDIN We all suffer from spiritual amnesia at times – forgetting who we are. This is a quote that helps… Continue Reading →
The Guest House (by Rumi) This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival. A joy, a depression, a meanness, some momentary awareness comes As an unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Even if they’re a… Continue Reading →
Way down on the South Sea island of Borneo, the natives go about catching monkeys in a very unusual way. Most of the monkeys are sold to zoos, so the hunters avoid using ordinary traps which can cause disfiguring injuries…. Continue Reading →
“Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.” – SOREN KEIRKEGAARD So often I live “unconsciously” and just go through my “plan and ordinary” days facing and dealing with problems and getting so caught… Continue Reading →
Despair (by Billy Collins) So much gloom and doubt in our poetry – flowers wilting on the table, the self regarding itself in a watery mirror. Dead leaves cover the ground, the wind moans in the chimney, and the tendrils… Continue Reading →
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to receive his daily medical treatment. His bed was next to the room’s only window…. Continue Reading →
“It is not the length of life, but depth of life.” – RALPH WALDO EMMERSON Live deeply! Yes, yes, yes! To live deeply for as long as I can! Thank you Ralph! And God,, may it be so.
I Know the Way You Can Get (by Hafiz) I know the way you can get When you have not had a drink of Love: Your face hardens, Your sweet muscles cramp. Children become concerned About a strange look that… Continue Reading →