Reflections

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elaine Pope’s reflection “Whole.” John Wesley used the expression “going on to perfection.” For him, that meant growing more and more able to love God and love people as Jesus did (1 John 4:12). Christine Valters Painter signs her reflections, “with great and growing love.” I love that phrase, for it sums up for me what a monk in the world’s spiritual journey is all about, learning to love more: more deeply, more authentically, more people, oneself

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post from the community. Read on for Angela Taylor’s reflection on finding the light to share. Today I am appreciating the cooler air and full change of autumn. Coolness in contrast to the heavy heat of late summer is allowing me to breathe a little deeper. These seasonal changes assist a movement within my soul. When I bring my awareness to what each season is speaking, my eye then turns inside to discern if my soul is mirroring the outside changes or in tension with

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World Guest Post series from the community. Read on for Michelle Lisenbee’s reflection on caring for chickens as spiritual practice. I live in the Mid-Atlantic. Our summers tend to be very warm and very humid. Not like, jungle humid, but sometimes it feels pretty darn close. One Sunday morning, in late July of 2017, I opened the door to feel blessed coolness. It had been in the high nineties all week. This morning, it was only in the seventies and the usual humidity was absent. I knew it

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elaine Breckenridge’s reflection on artistic wounds. I like the idea of the expressive arts, as long as it doesn’t mean using my hands to create in conventional ways. Give me a pencil to draw, or a brush to paint, even a magazine and a glue stick and I freeze. Over the years at conferences when I see the arts and crafts table set up for the “right brain activity,” something inside of me dies again. I have been