I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Melinda Thomas Hansen’s reflection turning on the homing beacon. “Perhaps there is some secret sort of homing instinct in books that brings them to their perfect readers.” ~ The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows A table was set up outside the bookstore at Kanuga, the retreat center where my family and I spent our summer vacation. As so often happens, on our final day there I felt the stirring need to purchase a little

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Terrie Marrie Childers’ reflection on responding to God’s invitations. A few years ago I returned to the workplace full time, accepting a position as the administrative assistant to the police chief in our town. I enjoy working with the officers and this job was definitely a divine appointment. However, as a contemplative individual, the long work day in a secular environment often leaves my soul parched and thirsty for spiritual refreshment. The “Monk in the World” concept has been such a helpful perspective for

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Keren Dibbens-Wyatt’s reflection on singing your song. Every morning I practice centering prayer and I commune with the divine, and I usually get interrupted at some point by three hard of hearing old ladies who stand outside cackling and shrieking with laughter, whilst they completely fail to control the Jack Russell that belongs to one of them. This goes on for at least half an hour. The dog drives me mad with its incessant yapping, the women with their nails-on-blackboard voices.

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Monty Peregrine’s reflection on listening into silence. My path as a monk in the world has literally taken me out into the world. I’m called by God and blessed to travel internationally several times a year, praying for and with the overlooked and neglected people of our world.  I’ve provided basic eye care for rural campesinos in a one-room, dirt-floored school in Honduras,  shared a midnight meal of freshly slaughtered goat, local cheese, yogurt, and melons with nomadic herders high in the Fann Mountains of Tajikistan,  prayed with

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Ally Markotich’s reflection on recovering a creative practice. I’m not sure when it began. Possibly winning third place in a community-wide art contest for the local Fire Hall in fourth grade. Or, maybe when friends and family would “ooh” and “aah” over recently created artwork. However, early on, I believed myself an artist. This label both delighted and concerned me. On my best days, time suspended as I created in the moment and on my worst days, I compared my art to

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sherri Hansen’s reflection on composting as a spiritual practice. [Jesus said,] “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit”—John 12:24 Spring in Upper Midwest is highly welcomed after long months of cold dark nights and seemingly endless snow. As ice melts and the world becomes green, I never ceased to be amazed and grateful at this promise of rebirth. Like many gardeners,

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Linda Lyzenga’s reflection on the practice of hospitality in the face of illness.  I had no idea when I signed the Monk Manifesto here at Abbey of the Arts three years ago how a broadened, deepened practice of hospitality would free me from much struggle and anxiety. Seven years prior, following St. Benedicts example, I had written my own rule of life when I began a course in spiritual formation followed by a spiritual direction practicum. There had been much unlearning to