Reflections

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elysha O’Brien’s wisdom on living contemplatively in the chaos: We are a People of Pattern It is morning. The children have been sent out the door and the downstairs neighbor’s dog begins to howl and cry and yip. My day has already started with noise and chaos and it will take everything in my power to rein it back. But the dog… the dog with his high pitched bark and relentless cry, telling the world his saga of agony and abandonment.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Deborah Svec’s wisdom on remembering who she is: Retreat to Remember Being more fully present to “ordinary” life requires a retreat from the everyday from time to time.  With a circle of women, I make a pilgrimage to the mountains, where I can remember who I am and see more clearly my place in the larger world.  This year was our fourth trip to the mountains for a week-long spiritual retreat. Rather than sitting and looking out at the landscape for

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Alicia Dykstra’s wisdom on the gifts of being a “grazer”: Grazing People often say you are what you eat. I never took that too literally, but at one point it occurred to me that the saying is true at many different levels. As a monk in the world we are called to pay attention, so I thought this all through some more and tried to figure out what God was trying to tell me. I love to graze and nibble snacks