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Reflections

Category: Monk in the World Guest Post Series

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Elaine Patterson

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest posts series from the community. Read on for Elaine Patterson’s reflection on walking labyrinths. Pilgrims are poets who create by taking journeys. ~ H. Richard Niebuhr I have always thought of myself as a ‘pilgrim’. I have never thought of myself as particularly ‘monk-ish’. But I loved the invitation to write about being a ‘monk in the world’ which would not let me go. And as I found myself reading the Abbey’s definition of a monk as someone ‘who lives in the world, immersed in

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November 26, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Lillian Lewis

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Lillian Lewis’ reflection and poem Winter Morning Prayer. I am dancing my morning prayer around an outdoor “shrine or altar” to the Great Mother who is Creating the winter morning even as She is creating me. I vest myself for the prayer with joyful bells, family faith, and the petition for my child. In other words…I bring everything I am to the moment of worship. Winter Morning PrayerI offer myselfon cold cobblestonesHumming to youO Dark Mother of Love,“She

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November 19, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Felicia Murrell

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post from the community. Read on for Abbey Wisdom Council member Felicia Murrell’s reflection on the path of love. Loving is the ability to see the Beloved in everyone around us.   —RAM DASS, Vedanta (Hindu) There are all kinds of ways of being in the world. For me, that way is Love. More succinctly, it means that I aspire to walk the path of Love in such a way that the truth of who I know myself to be is in harmony with the way I live

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November 12, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kate Kennington Steer

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kate Kennington Steer’s reflection, poem, and artwork on the elements. I am currently spending a year exploring the elements in the company of the Kinship Photography Collective.  My practice group (a special mix of people who are able to meet on zoom during the day in the U.S. and Canada so I can join with them here in the U.K.) are exploring each element by paying attention to the land-based calendar of the Celtic Wheel.  Thanks to the cultural background

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November 5, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Tom Delmore

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Tom Delmore’s poems Sparse hay does not a savior make and Ascension Thursday ~ Heal Thyself. These two poems come on the heels of retirement and a shift in writing. What is God calling me to in this craft? I began to see this as words jumped onto the page that seemed part of the poem but out of place, but not wrong. “A push the envelope moment” that sent shutters of not what I think but

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October 29, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Liuan Huska

I’m delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Liuan Huska’s reflection A Holy Shitshow: Being Present to Sickness and Dying. This article is adapted from a post from Liuan’s Substack newsletter: Becoming Whole.  I’m not sure how else to describe the last few months. My mom has been in and out of the hospital five times with complications from stomach cancer. Our car has been in and out of the mechanic four times, not to mention the time my husband and neighbor fixed the catalytic converter at

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October 22, 2025

Monk in the World Guest Post: Karen Southall Watts

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Karen Southall Watts’s reflection Sturdy Shoes and an Open Mind. My practice is not new or unique. In fact, I suspect that long before the Transcendentalists began tramping about the woods of New England in the 1800s, humanity was well-versed in the spiritual connection of a nature walk. I know I am not the first to discover the thick quiet of a lonely copse of trees, or the brilliant joy of a rabbit or deer bounding across your path.

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October 15, 2025