Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Breath Prayer:
      An Ancient Practice for the Everyday Sacred
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
      • Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color (Book Club – March 2021)
      • God Alone is Enough: A Spirited Journey with Teresa of Avila (Book Club – February 2021)
    • Community Online Retreats
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Sky, Sun, Sea, & Stone:
        Celtic Spirituality and Creative Writing
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Revelations: The Mysticism of Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World guest post: Rachel Regenold

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rachel Regenold's reflection on the way creatures can become our soul friends and spiritual guides:

A Monk with Four Paws

Amos is a monk in the world in disguise with a shaggy coat, four paws, and an irrepressible sweetness. In the nearly seven years since he rescued me – though officially I rescued him by adopting him from a golden retriever rescue – he has taught me the most important lessons of my life. Really, they have been lessons that only the gentlest of guides could teach by modeling them over and over and over again. Which is why he had to be a dog to teach me, because I never would have listened to a human being.

Keep an open heart. Though not immediately noticeable, Amos’s nose and lip are scarred. I imagine the injuries might have been caused by a dog fight because he spent the first four and a half years of his life in a shed and dog run as a backyard breeder’s stud dog. He was always kenneled with a female to inspire coupling. Perhaps a poor match was made. Nonetheless, Amos loves other dogs and assumes that they are all his friends. Somehow he never learned the proper social graces of dogdom though and irritates some newly-met dogs by sniffing just a little too long. They growl or snap and Amos swings his big head away and moves on. He doesn’t hold a grudge. The next day he’ll try to say hello to the very same dog again unless I encourage him to keep moving.

Have faith. Amos was scared of everything when his foster family delivered him to me. Every noise startled him. He parked himself in the middle of my living room floor for the first two days until my neighbor rolled his garbage bin down the driveway for Monday morning pick-up. Amos lumbered behind my love seat and spent the next two weeks there except when I made him come out.

I was pretty certain that I had made a horrible mistake in adopting him when I called a dog trainer named Tonja for help. I explained Amos’s origins and behaviors and that I thought he needed some training one-on-one in my home. “No,” Tonja replied firmly, “this dog needs to be socialized. He needs to be in class around other dogs and people.” She softened a bit, adding, “No matter what this dog has been through, once he learns that you won’t lead him into harm, he’ll do anything you ask.”

This seemed unlikely to me at our first obedience class as Amos sprawled on the cool floor, unwilling to get up, interact, or accept treats. The only time he did get up was to pee behind my chair in front of the whole class, disappointing my hope that at the first class he would surprise me with a miraculous change in behavior.

Instead, Amos waited till the second class. We did our homework that first week and when we arrived at the next class, Amos showed off his new-found ability to sit for a treat when he wasn’t trying to say hello to the other dogs or accepting treats from our trainer’s husband. “He’s like a completely different dog!” Tonja remarked. He was. It took many months for him to become completely comfortable in my home and a whole year to learn how to walk on a leash. But his faith that I would always love him and never lead him into harm made it all possible.

Enjoy the little things. Poet Mary Oliver says, “It must be a great disappointment to God if we are not dazzled at least ten times a day.” I suspect that dogs never disappoint God. Amos is delighted by meal time, going outside, seeing me come home, and chasing squirrels. Every single day.

Some puppy-mill dogs come to love the outdoors after spending their lives in a cage, but Amos decided from early on that indoor life was the best. He hurriedly went potty and on walks so he could go back indoors. This past summer he started sitting in the yard when we went outside. At first I thought he must be giving his arthritic back legs a rest. Then I noticed that as he sat Amos would look around and raise his muzzle to sniff the air as his silky ears fluttered in the wind. He was savoring his time outdoors, I realized. Not a lot of time. Just a moment or two, then he’d meander a little ways and raise his leg to pee before going back inside. And every once in a while he laid down in the yard as I petted him, sometimes even allowing himself to wriggle around on his back. Watching Amos savor the outdoors for the first time in his 11 years is one of my favorite little things.

I dread the day when Amos will teach me the hardest lesson of all – letting go. Then I will have to learn how to live without him.


Rachel Regenold 1Rachel and Amos Regenold live in Iowa. In her spare time Rachel enjoys blogging about finding meaning in everyday life at www.iowaseeker.com and studying to be a yoga teacher.  Amos devotes all of his time to helping Rachel be a better human being.

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3 Comments April 30, 2015

Upcoming Programs

Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
March 13, 2021
with Drs. Jamie Marich, Kellie Kirksey, and Christine Valters Paintner

Novena for Times of Unraveling
Becoming a Monk in the World

March 17-25, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner, and Simon de Voil

Recent Reflections

  • More Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times ~ A Love Note From Your Online Abbess
  • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color – March Video Discussion and Book Group Resources Now Available
  • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Call for Submissions – Monk in the World Guest Post Series
  • Hildy Tales 7: An Nead by John Valters Paintner

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