Tag Archives: SoulStream

Undoing My Life

I’m still thinking about the “Oh, no!” I heard when a toy car went over the edge of the coffee table and crashed. I imagine that a lot actually, when I fear going over the edge of acceptance and falling into a pit of rejection. Many things–gaining weight, … Continue reading

Posted in Popular Posts, Poverty of Spirit, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

God in the Dark: Theory

My biking siblings and me: Harry, Sylvia, me, and Ron Every couple of years my siblings, Fred and I go on a three-day bike trip. The first trip we biked from Banff to Jasper, the second was a 400 km section of … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood, Spiritual Direction, Stories of an Everyday Pilgrim | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Responding to the World Contemplatively

How is God calling me to respond to our beautiful, broken world? The same way I am asked to do everything else: contemplatively. “Contemplatively” simply means living out of the reality that we are always in union with God. The apostle Paul said, “In Christ we live … Continue reading

Posted in Creation, Popular Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 15 Comments

Helping God Save the Earth

Despite all evidence to the contrary, God will accomplish God’s purposes in Christ. This bold statement, based on Ephesians 1:10 and Colossians 1:19-20, expresses SoulStream community’s core value of hope. My experience in the Valley of Dry Bones echoed this hope. Despite … Continue reading

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Bone of My Bone, Flesh of My Flesh

I close my eyes to pray, and the hand of the Lord is on me. Like Ezekiel, I am brought out by the Spirit of the Lord and set in the middle of a valley full of bones. Everywhere I look, I see sun-bleached skeletons of … Continue reading

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Beauty Stares Me in the Face

Every time I look in the mirror, I’m reminded that I don’t look very beautiful. Ouch. Did I say that out loud? Beauty is a sore subject with me, yet over the past few years, God has awakened me to its glory. … Continue reading

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Questioned by a Strawflower

Five tight buds, glossy purple lollipops, greeted me as I passed them on my way to morning prayers. Many flowers that I recognized were blooming at Twin Creeks Lodge–iris, geraniums, petunias, pansies, and daisies–but I had never seen buds like these before. … Continue reading

Posted in Creation, Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

As Good as It Gets

I don’t get to enjoy my spiritual growth spurt for long before I’m made aware of more shortcomings. And not imaginary ones either. I’m talking significant habits that drive people up the wall. My first reaction is to cocoon, my second is to draw … Continue reading

Posted in Poverty of Spirit | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

The Gardener

How powerless the soil is to produce anything on its own. I am praying with Jesus’s parable of the sower and the seed. I can relate. No matter how hard I try, those three unreceptive soils are in me, impeding … Continue reading

Posted in Mystical, Popular Posts, Poverty of Spirit, Prayer, Praying with the Imagination | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On This Mountain

Last week I talked about deadlines closing in on me. One of them was SoulStream’s Living from the Heart course. It would be my first time co-facilitating a six-day intensive in spiritual formation, and I wanted to prepare well for it. Shortly before I … Continue reading

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