I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World Guest Post series from the community. Read on for Michelle Lisenbee’s reflection on caring for chickens as spiritual practice. I live in the Mid-Atlantic. Our summers tend to be very warm and very humid. Not like, jungle humid, but sometimes it feels pretty darn close. One Sunday morning, in late July of 2017, I opened the door to feel blessed coolness. It had been in the high nineties all week. This morning, it was only in the seventies and the usual humidity was absent. I knew it

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Elaine Breckenridge’s reflection on artistic wounds. I like the idea of the expressive arts, as long as it doesn’t mean using my hands to create in conventional ways. Give me a pencil to draw, or a brush to paint, even a magazine and a glue stick and I freeze. Over the years at conferences when I see the arts and crafts table set up for the “right brain activity,” something inside of me dies again. I have been

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Mary Davis’ reflection, Creating a Tech Sabbath: Uninterrupted Being. In unscheduled moments, my soul speaks and my heart listens. Sundays are heavenly in my little “monastery” by the sea. This is my day to linger longer in morning meditation. A day when I can stretch, breathe and align without a phone chirping on the corner of my yoga mat. This is the day when my gratitude practice is not confined to a specific time of morning, but

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Michelle Kobriger’s reflection, “A Reluctant Pilgrim.” On Sunday mornings, I look forward to the Abbey of the Arts weekly email and its serendipitous bits of wisdom. Last October’s post describing the spiritual practice of peregrinatio was exceptionally timely— days earlier I’d been diagnosed with endometrial cancer. Peregrinatio is a pilgrimage made for the love of God with no set destination. Celtic monks set out alone in small boats called coracles. Without rudder or oar, the monks trusted

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rachel Grenier’s reflection “Returning to the Path.” When I sat down with my devotional this morning, I realized it had been a month since I had last cracked its cover. My days had been busy, and loud, and chaotic, weaving themselves into weeks, then a full month before I realized how long it had been since we had visited together. Fortunately, God does not withhold from us in retribution for our departures – however frequent or extended.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Marlene Kropf’s reflection on practices of solitude, shared prayer, and contemplative walking. Monasteries are favored retreat spaces for my husband and me.  When we travel, we seek out monastic communities along the way and sometimes book a couple of retreat nights in the midst of our itinerary.  Whether in the United States, Canada, Scotland, England, or Ireland, we’ve enjoyed warm hospitality and peaceful, beautiful settings in many communities of prayer.  Usually we spend our days in solitude – praying,

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission to our Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Anne Marie Vencill’s reflection on the art of quilting as a spiritual practice. An email set me on my quest to be a monk in the world. It simply said, “I discovered Abbey of the Arts a few years ago. Can’t remember if I shared it with you. It has a lot of good things.” I clicked the link and found St. Gobnait, the art of Marcy Hall, a manifesto that resounded, and doubt. How could I possibly