by David Anderson
We don’t normally sit on the deck for Centering Prayer, but this morning was off schedule and it’s where we ended up. After the reading we sat still. Maybe five minutes into the silence I saw a blur on the far edge of the low table in front of me. In a flash I heard […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Awe, Beauty, creation, Daily Practice, Happiness, Mystery, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Silence
I was raised in a politically/religiously balanced home. My father was deeply engaged in politics, and my mother had only one thing to say on the matter: “Politics stinks to high heaven.” For her, it was a distraction from the ultimate concern of life, which was faith in God. Politics concerned itself with the things […]
by David Anderson 20 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Silence
Exodus 3: 1-12 “And Moses said, ‘I will turn aside and seethis great sight, why the bush is not burnt.” The story of the Burning Bush begins with a murder. The only reason Moses is out here in the wilderness is because, in his zeal and anger, he killed an Egyptian slave master who was […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Awareness, Awe, Death/Dying, Discernment, Faith/Trust, Mystery, Now/ the Present, Salvation, Silence, Surrender, Transformation
In the last year or so I’ve been listening to scores of podcasts and as many books on Audible. Any time in the car, even twenty minutes to the grocery, I’m listening to Tolkien or Wendell Berry or a history of Mexico, ahead of our fall trip there. Washing dishes and cleaning up the house […]
by David Anderson 16 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Beauty, Daily Practice, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Silence
There was once a young boy who would wander in the woods. His father became concerned as he went deeper and deeper into the forest each time, so one day he said to the boy, “I notice that every day you walk into the woods. Why do you go there?” The boy replied, “I go […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Daily Practice, Lent, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Seeing, Silence, Transformation
We expect monks and mystics to tell us how important silence is. Gordon Hempton is neither of those. He is an acoustic ecologist, someone who studies the sound of the natural world and seeks to preserve it. In his book, One Square Inch of Silence, Hempton says there are less than a dozen places left […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, creation, Daily Practice, Listening, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Silence, Uncategorized
All mankind’s troubles are caused by one single thing, which is their inability to sit quietly in a room. -Blaise Pascal When I leave on vacation later in August, I am leaving my smart phone at home. There should probably be some version of methadone for those who stop doodling with their phones […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Listening, Now/ the Present, Patience, Prayer/Meditation, Silence
I am sitting with my father, playing gin rummy, but I might as well be sitting in a monastery or any retreat house. I am here for a week. Our days are simple and highly ritualized. Breakfast is at 8:30. (Two eggs on an English muffin, daily, for him.) We may converse for a while […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Community, Daily Practice, Family, Intimacy, Prayer/Meditation, Silence