Category: Spiritual Life
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After the Fall
We all make mistakes, Our hearts are duplicitous. We want what we shouldn’t and our hearts are divided. That sums up the human condition. We are an amalgam of imperfectability. But… That is a not a cry of pessimism or defeat. It simply means that sometimes we fall down. What we do after the fall…
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Reeds Do Bend
There is strength in flexibility. Aesop remarked on this paradox in his fable of the reed and the oak tree. His insight reveals the strength of the reed. Yes, the might oak is sturdy, strong, and tall, but the lowly reed survives the thrashing winds because it is pliant. Don’t be confused here. The reed…
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Let’s Listen
An inescapable aspect of winter is the way it draws us together around tables and hearths to escape the dark and cold. This is when the ancient stories come forth. Tales and confessions not told in the bright summer light on long languid afternoons that melt into twilight. These long nights beckon Beowulf and Grendel…
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Griefs to Still
The most solitary emotion I know is grief. So deeply personal with so many faces. It comes for us all. Even children cannot escape it. It never arrives at an opportune time. When it stands waiting farther down the path and we approach, we dread meeting such an unwelcome partner on our pilgrim journey home.…
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Like Shrines
We place such little value in ourselves. We do not realize what we hold within these bodies of flesh and bone. How unfortunate. Our souls are not trivial creations nor mere imaginings. They are life. They allow us to move, breathe, imagine, dream, and love. They can be injured and harmed. They are the source…
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To Walk Away
When I think about walking, a destination usually comes to mind. Recently, though, my thoughts have wandered to the exact opposite–the idea of walking away, of leaving something behind. This image has sad and forlorn overtones. To leave a place or a person or a culture because it’s harmful or simply bad is to walk…
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Dreams and Phantoms
The prayers we say before we go to sleep are the most humbling. Whether in the chapel at Compline or in the quiet of our beds, the truth about our humanity is quite clear. We need all the grace we can hope for. Despite our minor triumphs, we know our failures as we lie staring…
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Midwinter
The midpoint of a long journey brings partial solace. Half the task still remains. My experience mountaineering taught me that the majority of injuries occur on the descent. Hours of pounding the quadriceps coming down a glacier reveal how treacherous a simple fall can be with exhausted muscles. So here I stand at Midwinter in…
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To Stumble and Fall
It’s one thing to walk along the path, and another to come across a traveler who’s broken, injured, and unable to walk. Remember, the path is our homeward journey. This isn’t a tourist trip or a march into battle. Metaphors of the Good Samaritan abound. Here we encounter another doing the same thing as us.…
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Walk
On the cusp of a new year odd mixtures appear: hesitant and eager, reflective and spontaneous, We want to rush headlong into opportunity, but caution holds us back. Tinged with doubt, but leaning into the possible, we come alive by learning to trust with little more than faith. The heavens proclaim a new world heralding…
Richard Earenfight 