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Reflections

Category: Monk in the World Guest Post Series

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Peggy Acott

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Peggy Acott’s reflection on holding space. How do I live as a monk in the world? This reminded me of a recent writing prompt by Krista Tippett of On Being, that came to me by way of Jeffrey Davis and Tracking Wonder’s Quest2017 – #yourtruecalling: What is your vocation, your sense of callings as a human being at this point in your life, both in and beyond job and title? My initial response to Krista Tippett’s question was that of a

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Rich Lewis

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rich Lewis’ reflection on Quaker Silence and Won Buddhist Temple Worship. God offers us both rich and diverse contemplative practices.  Let me share two diverse contemplative experiences:  Quaker Silence and Won Buddhist Temple Worship. Quaker Silence In March of 2014 I decided to experience a Quaker silent service.  The church I attended traced its roots back to 1699.  The meeting house I sat in was built in 1823.  The service had no minister.  I sat in silence with 100 others.  We

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Abigail Carroll

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Abigail Carroll’s reflection Poetry as Sabbath. Sundays in my family as a child were for church, waffles and maple syrup, and enjoying the outdoors or helping out with house projects. In short, celebrating the Sabbath was about worship, food, nature, and family. Today, Sabbath continues to mean each of these things to me, but more recently, it has come to mean something else, too: poetry. When God rested on the seventh day after creating the world, I think he was doing

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Jamie Marich

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jamie Marich’s reflection Dancing Mindfully with the Elements. The invitation to pray and meditate with the elements is fully awakened in my life. I credit much of this awakening to Christine and learning from her sacred work with Abbey of the Arts. Diving in to the various exercises in Christine’s books and retreats has heightened my attunement to the elements in the various places that I travel. My own mindful journey and contemplative practices in mindfulness traditions assists in this deepening of

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Joan DiStefano

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Joan DiStefano’s reflection on lessons learned at Abbey of Gethsemani. June 6, 2006 the Abbey of Gethsemani, Trappist, Kentucky. Thomas Merton’s grave. I remember that first early afternoon when I was told by a monk to walk near the first tree and find him between two fox’s. Huh? The tree was easy, it was up a tiny incline of grass, but the two fox’s turned out to be the Abbott Fox buried to the  left, Merton in the middle, and a

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Jean Wise

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jean Wise’s reflection entitled Living With the Tension of Routines and Adventures. Paradox. Deep within me live two longings that I used to believe contradicted each other. I assumed you thrived more within the blessings of routines or within the advantages of adventures. One or another, not both, worked better for me, so I thought. “You can’t enjoy both,” lying voices whispered to my heart.  I am learning now to hold the predictable and the impulsive times equally, knowing they both

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Monk in the World Guest Post: Nancy L. Agneberg

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Nancy L. Agneberg’s reflection on entitled Winter Spirituality. I love winter. I prefer winter to summer and spring. When it is fall, I think fall is my favorite season, but then winter comes, and I know, for sure, winter is my favorite season. Oh, I am willing to join in with the usual February and March conversations about winter being far too long and will spring ever arrive? As I listen to the whining about the cold, the snow, the dark, I

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