I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Martha Jane Petersen’s wisdom on quilting as contemplative prayer: At age 65, I encountered a major turn in my life’s road. I slowly heeded a Divine call to become an artist. My hesitations gripped me long and hard. At this stage of life? I exclaimed. And what do I do about my writing, and being a minister?  Whenever I found myself enmeshed in art – among artists, or at galleries, or in my own art making – my energy revved up, excitement mounted, and joy flooded

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Sara Hillis’ poetic wisdom on yielding to the divine Artist at work in us: Mold me, O Potter, for I am Your clay. Shape me, O Sculptor, for I am Your stone. Play me, O Harper, for I am Your Instrument. Sing me, O Bard, for I am Your song. Live me, O Life, for I die without You. Cherish me, O Love, for I pine without You. Speak me, O Word, for I am Your silence. Breathe me, O Breath,

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for David Ford’s wisdom on the journey of becoming a monk in the world: How do I live as a monk in the world? Labels are so necessary but can also be misleading, so I usually try to avoid them. Am I really a ‘monk in the world’? It is a label that does have some resonance, so perhaps you will bear with me while I wear it for a few minutes. Admittedly, I have always felt drawn to the monastic. Having a

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kate Kennington Steer’s wisdom about photography as a portal to presence: Whenever I can, I am to be found with a camera in my hand, but living with chronic illness means my day revolves around how much energy I have, and whether I am mobile enough to leave the house.  Most days I am a very quiet ‘monk’, and ‘the world’ is rather distant, reached only by what is out of the window, and what threads of community I can conjure through

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 wisdom about the dance of becoming a monk in the world: It is all too easy to fill my hours with tasks – things that need doing. There are classes to plan, lectures to prepare, websites to build; bills to pay, emails to answer, and products – necessary and unnecessary – to search for on Amazon. The tasks have a way of making themselves seem to be of utmost importance. They arrange themselves in lists on notepads and in

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Jim Cyr’s wisdom about the grace of stories: “My story is important not because it is mine, God knows, but because if I tell it anything like right, the chances are you will recognize that in many ways it is also yours… it is precisely through these stories in all their particularity, as I have long believed and often said, that God makes himself known to each of us more powerfully and personally. If this is true, it means that to lose

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Cyndi Gallo Callan’s wisdom about what matters most: Prior to Thanksgiving I began thinking about Advent and how I would embrace the season; it always passes so quickly.  Instead of how I thought Advent would be embraced, I found myself reflecting on the theme living as a monk in the world, what it meant in my life, and for those around me.  The reflections moved through me like tidal currents. It was obvious that the Holy Spirit settled within me, as my