by David Anderson
It’s wet, she says. Why is the carpet all wet here? We have just gotten out of bed, and Pam is standing by the door to our bedroom. I go over and run my hand over the carpet. Soaked. I look up to see where the water is coming from. The ceiling looks perfect. I […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Breathing, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Peace, Prayer/Meditation
I’ve been praying for a young girl. She’s battling a rare disease, and it’s gone on for month and months. I keep praying, and yet I often wonder about praying for others—“intercession,” in the classic types of prayer. At some point I let go of prayer as telling God stuff, asking God for things, getting […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Blessing, Breathing, Daily Practice, Healing, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it, Surrender, Transformation
It’s always a revelation when it finally dawns on parents that most of what they love about their children, and most everything that drives them crazy, is merely a genetic reincarnation of themselves. We adore the little dimple we share, and swell with pride when they show the same early inclination to art or music. […]
by David Anderson 8 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Breathing, Identity, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation
“If you died tonight, where would you spend eternity?” I heard that over and over in the church of my childhood and youth. It was a stock ending to an evangelistic sermon aimed at getting people saved. I grew up in South Dakota, but if you went to a Baptist church in Wisconsin or Washington, […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Conversion, Daily Practice, Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Salvation
is One. The shema, the central affirmation of Judaism, begins: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Along with every observant Jew, Jesus prayed those words morning and night. God is One. This week’s “Stories of Simplicity & Joy” all flow from that oneness at the heart of God. God is singular, […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Blessing, Daily Practice, Lent, Love, Prayer/Meditation, Uncategorized
was undoubtedly bored. Ever since humans took to the waves, ennui has been aboard. Like war, life at sea can be “interminable boredom punctuated by moments of terror.” In the psychological doldrums, sailors carved scrimshaw, made up sea shanties, sang them over and over, played cards, drank beer and rum. Noah’s voyage was worse for […]
by David Anderson Leave a Comment Filed Under: Breathing, Daily Practice, Discernment, Faith/Trust, Guidance, Lent, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Surrender, Transformation
begins the Lenten journey—every year—by heading out to the wilderness and taking us along (Mark 1:9-15). The wilderness is often portrayed as an ominous and threatening place—avoid it at all costs. But what if it has a word for us, a message from God? Because the Exodus sojourn in the wilderness became the single most […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, creation, Discernment, Lent, Listening, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Surrender, Transformation
Luke 2: 1-7 “And while they were there, the time came for her to be delivered.” Perhaps Mary’s labor has already started—we are just hours away now. And that means Joseph is worried. So much can go wrong. In ancient cultures, nervous fathers-to-be had rituals to perform during pregnancy and labor. In one old Greek […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Breathing, Prayer/Meditation, Waiting