I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kimberly Knowle-Zeller’s reflection on weeding for life. I’ve never been a gardener. But don’t say my mother never tried to cultivate a love of the dirt and growth and soil and plants. She tried her hardest. She lived in the garden and hoped her daughter would similarly follow suit. Yet, I’ve heard her repeat over to me, “You barely pulled one weed growing up.” Perhaps it was the hard work. Or the heat. Or my impatience. But I didn’t pull many weeds

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jessica Curtis’ reflection on the breath prayer of presence – acceptance – love. Recently, while leading a workshop on creating a fulfilling life, I shared the very fulfilling experience I had last year of walking with my mother-in-law through the last days of her life. I hadn’t questioned how fulfilling this experience had been, yet I looked out at many puzzled faces trying to connect their idea of fulfillment with loss and death. It’s no surprise – we often associate fulfillment

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Laurie Klein’s reflection on using playful gestures for prayer. I wanted to play more. Ultimately, a childhood diversion beckoned. ‘Busy hands are happy hands,’ my mother always said. Raised to work hard at everything, I’ve been productive over the years but often at great personal cost. Excessive intensity wears a girl down. Other people seem to delight in each step toward their goals, a pleasure I find inspiring. And contagious. As a fellow monk in this dangerous, everyday-falling-around-our-ears-world, I want to

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Rev. Naomi Kelly’s reflection on finding God’s grace in the non-anxious practice of visio divina. Most mornings, when I get up to walk the dog, I take my smartphone with me, keeping the camera poised to snap pictures. What a blessing to have been exposed to the idea of visio divina from Christine and Abbey of the Arts. Everything we pass—trees, rocks, creatures—offers a feeling, a whisper, a message from the Divine.  It’s so much as looking for God to

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Dianne Morris Jones’ reflection titled “They Ruined Our Trail. . . .” There are so many things fundamentally wrong with that statement!  However, it WAS the statement traipsing through our minds as Roger and I recently slipped and slid our way through the muddy “new” terrain of a favorite hiking trail. We’ve hiked this trail often—through the icy cold of winter, watching the deer explore the frozen pond; through the budding beauty of spring, listening to the symphony of birds;

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Liz Hill’s reflection titled Going On Faith. Not long ago I ran into a woman who had taken my class on storytelling just before she left on an extended overseas trip. “You were right,” she told me. “Faith is a good airline.” I nodded and smiled, but I’m pretty sure she could tell I had no idea what she was referring to. The next day she refreshed my memory via email. She outlined the many remarkable, transformative things that had

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 being nudged by God. Is God Nudging You? What are you doing with the questions you are asked by others? Are these questions God nudging you to take a specific action? Let me share two questions that I was asked that I believe were God nudging me to take further action upon. Before I share my first question, let me provide some background information.  In early 2014, I began reading Healing The Divide: Recovering Christianity’s Mystic