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Finding Your Soul

by David Anderson

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Reality--trusting it

Are You Spiritually Bypassing?

March 26, 2023 by David Anderson 4 Comments

Every once in a while, you hear a term that perfectly describes something you’ve experienced but didn’t have a name for. That’s how I felt when someone used the phrase “spiritual bypass,” coined by psychologist John Welwood in the 80s. He defined it as a “tendency to use spiritual ideas and practices to sidestep or […]

Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Lent, Reality--trusting it

What Are You Running Away From?

March 14, 2023 by David Anderson 11 Comments

On July 13, 1798, William Wordsworth returned to a specific place along the banks of the Wye River that flows through England and Wales. He sits above the murmuring waters, leaning against a dark sycamore tree. Years have passed and now he sees again the orchard trees, the steep and lofty cliffs, the wreaths of […]

Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Change, Daily Practice, Fear, Happiness, Lent, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it, Seeing

The Yellow Falling Leaf

February 22, 2023 by David Anderson 16 Comments

Question One: What more did I think I wanted? We don’t think of Ash Wednesday as a time to reflect on happiness. Isn’t it about sackcloth and guilt? But Ash Wednesday is set apart simply as a day to ponder this one fact: We came from dust, and we return to dust. When we accept […]

Filed Under: Blessing, Daily Practice, Faith/Trust, Gratitude, Happiness, Lent, Letting Go, Love, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it, Repentance, Surrender

The Heaven of Bread

January 19, 2023 by David Anderson 9 Comments

“Can you get that bread out of the oven?” Pam calls to me. “I think it’s done.” I open the oven door and a soft cloud of heat drifts over me. Then the smell wafts out, wave after wave—the yeasty aroma, the malted perfume, the toasted whiff of . . . I don’t know—heaven. Or […]

Filed Under: Daily Practice, Grace, Heaven, Love, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it

Two Words and a Wedding

August 16, 2014 by David Anderson 10 Comments

  Tonight I will officiate at my second wedding in a week. I like weddings, but I always struggle with what to say. At baptisms, the parents in the front pews listen even though they’re often tussling with older siblings of the one in white. At funerals, people listen intently. Their stare—both skeptical and desperate—says: […]

Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Conflict, Daily Practice, Family, Forgiveness, Happiness, Intimacy, Letting Go, Love, Mercy, Reality--trusting it, Suffering, Surrender

The Empty Boat

March 18, 2014 by David Anderson 8 Comments

A man is having an enjoyable boat ride on a river. It is dusk. The man looks up to see another boat coming down the river toward him, and his first thought is how nice it is that someone else is out enjoying the river and the beauty of a summer’s evening. Then he realizes […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Conflict, Fear, Freedom, Happiness, Reality--trusting it, Surrender

Narrow Your Options

February 22, 2014 by David Anderson 14 Comments

Creativity is kin to spirituality. As a writer and a pastor, I am always intrigued by how the creative process—for any artist—tracks so closely the movement of the Spirit. The key to creativity, I find, also fits the lock and opens the door of the soul. And that key is: limits. Everything about our world […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Choice, creativity, Freedom, Happiness, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Surrender

Waiting for the Bus

December 1, 2013 by David Anderson 3 Comments

I am sitting at a bus stop in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. I am not the one hoping to board a bus, it is my son-in-law, Andy. Andy and Maggy have come out to our home in Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving. Today, though, it is time to head back to New York. Maggy is staying the day since […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Faithfulness, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Patience, Reality--trusting it, Waiting

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