Contemplative Spirituality
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Transitions, Grief, and the Illusion of “Ownership”
We usually can’t move to a new thing without leaving something (or many things) behind. Whether it is a physical move of location; changing jobs or vocation; or welcoming or losing a member into a family or community through birth,… Continue reading
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Who and What are the Mystics?
Maybe I’m strange, but my first inclination when I heard the word was something to do with magic. Mystical. Magical. The words seemed similar enough. While my initial reaction wasn’t one of fear, I also internally thought, nah. That’s fine… Continue reading
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Welcoming Resistance
No matter what I want to build into my life—a workout regime, a writing habit, a parenting shift, marital intimacy—I have to face resistance if I want to embrace that lifestyle or task. But there’s something in me that resists… Continue reading
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Rewilding Motherhood
I felt my deep longings were seen and voiced by Evans. Also, the limitations of this season of life and our place in the world as women. It was a book that didn’t ask me to do or accomplish anything… Continue reading
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An Afternoon Hike: Lessons in Being Present to What is Already There
Every time I’d seen this sign for a hike at this campground on previous trips, I’d outright ignored it. Yeah right, I thought. That’ll be a joke. But this time I didn’t go for the view. I was just desperate… Continue reading
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Who My Five-Year-Old Wants to Vote For
Our family was sitting around the dinner table and my five-year-old daughter said, “What’s voting?” Commence civic education lesson one. Continue reading
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Moving Beyond Political Bifurcation Towards the “Law of Three”
I have a news flash for you. God doesn’t take sides. He’s not a Democrat, and he’s not a Republican. He’s not even an American. To view God as such is incredibly small-minded. Continue reading
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Emotional Overwhelm and the Welcoming Prayer
Subtitle: What “Surrender” Doesn’t Mean. I’m struggling so much this week with internal drama. There are external pressures and relationships in my life right now that are creating a pressure-cooker of dissatisfaction and anger in my being. I’ve been angry… Continue reading
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Spacious Lament
I had to leave church in order to grieve and be a mess because my grief and mess seemed to make others uncomfortable. They didn’t know what to do with me. Some sadness might be allowed, but then it needed… Continue reading
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Prayer as a Way of Being in the World
In The Awakened Heart, Gerald G. May writes, “I think most people have trouble with prayer because prayer is really an act of love, and therefore demands vulnerability. As with the love, the more we try to control prayer, the… Continue reading
Danielle Klafter 