I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rachel Grandey’s reflecion “As kingfishers catch fire.” Birdwatching never used to be a spiritual practice for me. As a child on family hikes I grew bored when my parents took out their binoculars, and frustrated if we stopped to watch any but the most dramatic birds. Life was all about reaching the next horizon as quickly as possible. Despite this, glimpses of special birds – Peregrine Falcons, Golden Eagles, Nightjars – etched themselves onto my earliest memories.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Wisdom Council member Jamie Marich’s reflection and poem on healing spiritual wounds. Jamie will be leading a mini-retreat on Healing the Wounds of Spiritual Abuse on Saturday, August 20th. Several years ago during my own trauma therapy, the memory that I share about in this poem came rolling back for me as I worked through the wounds of my own spiritual abuse–specifically experienced for me as growing up with one Catholic parent and one Evangelical Protestant parent.

I am delighted to share a beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Natalie Salminen’s reflection on creativity, faith, and painting the liturgy of the hours. I was exhausted in every sense of the word. As a mother to three, foster parent, visual artist, pastor’s wife, school volunteer, and small business owner, I was struggling to keep up with life’s daily demands. In the midst of this busy season, I longed to be true to my artistic practice,  knowing well the power of creativity to heal and align. My husband and

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Elise Ritter’s luminous artworks of angels, saints, and ancestors were featured in our Lent retreat, The Love of Thousands. In this reflection she shares a bit of her process and inspiration in painting.  Luminous Grace:  Why I paint the way I do There are two lessons that I learned throughout my years of painting: Do not give up on your dreams and be open to experimentation. The study of painting, under the right teacher, opened up my world.   I