Share your Word for 2014 In ancient times, wise men and women fled out into the desert to find a place where they could be fully present to God and to their own inner struggles at work within them. The desert became a place to enter into the refiner's fire and be stripped down to one's holy essence. The desert was a threshold place where you emerged different than when you entered. Many people followed these ammas and abbas, seeking their wisdom and guidance for a meaningful life. One tradition was to ask for a word –  this word or

Lynda Chalmers is offering 40 days of contemplative practices at her blog and invited me to reflect on lectio divina: When I first was introduced to the practice of lectio divina many years ago I felt an opening inside of me, as if I was being met right where I was. I discovered in this ancient way of praying a mirror of my own inner movements and longing for contemplative depth. I felt supported in a way of savoring life and listening deeply for the voice of Spirit moving through sacred texts and the world. Lectio divina has four movements

Invocation Let us try what it is to be true to gravity, to grace, to the given, faithful to our own voices, to lines making the map of our furrowed tongue. Turned toward the root of a single word, refusing solemnity and slogans, let us honor what hides and does not come easy to speech.  The pebbles we hold in our mouths help us to practice song, and we sing to the sea.  May the things of this world be preserved to us, their beautiful secret vocabularies.  We are dreaming it over and new, the language of our tribe, music

I am so delighted to run across this video, shared with me by my good friend and fellow monk Tess, who blogs over at Pilgrim's Moon (a wonderful resource for growing older with wisdom and consciousness). Watch this and see if it doesn't shift your perspective on distractions in meditation (or at least make you smile).  I love that the dog in this video looks just like our sweet Amma Winter.