Have you ever sat in silence and come away refreshed? Learning to savor silence is a discipline. One has to develop a taste for it. For most, it doesn't come easy. Try this experiment - set a timer for 3 minutes, sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and sit...
My journey in contemplative prayer started years ago when "breath prayer" helped me stay alive through a horrible health crisis in a remote area where I was alone and without help. I didn't know it was "breath prayer" at the time - it was just the most natural thing...
A friend wrote me about my book recently. "Your words, like your doodles, are intricate and full of twists and turns, looking this way and that, inside and out, up and down, through and through..." she said. That reminded me of a cold, grey day in Germany. I was...
The Hebrew word selah appears 70+ times in the Hebrew Bible. Three times in the book of Habakkuk, the rest of the time in the Psalms. The meaning of this word is uncertain - it may be a musical or liturgical term. Some believe that selah is a conjunction that links...
Lectio Divina (Latin for “divine reading”) is a simple but powerful method of praying with Scripture that engages with four disciplines - reading, meditation, prayer and contemplation. The practice of Lectio Divina was first established in the 6th century by Saint...
Why do we bow our heads or kneel when we pray? Why do we reach upwards with our arms or bring our palms together? Or reach out with both hands and open up our hands in a receiving gesture? Does body posture really matter? Hand gestures and body posture communicate in...
We tend to define miracles as God removing hardship or obstacles in our lives in supernatural ways—miraculous healing of the body, protection from danger, or the arrival of a huge unexpected financial gift. In waiting for this, we often miss out on experiencing...
We all wrestle with what CS Lewis calls "the problem of pain." Why would a loving God allow His children to be exposed to pain, loss and grief? In the very last chapter in the book of Job, after experiencing every kind of imaginable loss and pain, Job makes a...
Scripture clearly asserts the value of silence in our lives. “Be still and know that I am God.” But do we know what it means to really be perfectly still? Do we slow down enough? How motivated are we to set aside time for silence and solitude? The reality of Psalm...
I'm learning to be water. Stillness... When I was younger, that word sounded terribly boring to me—stagnant, lackluster, lacking imagination or initiative. I couldn't have been further from the truth! In the midst of a busy season, when stress levels were high, I read...
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