Word for Today: Stranger
[Benedict’s Rule calls me] to welcome in every stranger who comes to the door as the face of the divine…. At its core, it means that everything that seems strange, foreign, or uncomfortable is the place where God especially shimmers forth.
—Christine Valters Paintner, The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within
Reflective Question: While it is relatively easy to see how this deep hospitality applies to strangers, can you see how it equally applies to an inner kind of hospitality, when we extend a welcome to the full spectrum of emotions, beliefs and thoughts which inhabit our hearts and minds? How does it make you feel when you realize that these are precisely the places where we are called to meet God?
Next steps:
Let the word, quote, and question inspire your creative practice (Download the list of daily words here.) Use the hashtag #soulofapilgrim when sharing on social media.- Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks Facebook group to share your art and writing with others.
- Name your commitment to creative practice in the comments at this post (and enter the drawing to win a free copy of The Soul of a Pilgrim.)
- Share this post with others and invite them to participate (they can sign up here)
- Order a copy of Christine’s newest book The Soul of a Pilgrim
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