Articles on Listening
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New Rhythms of Grace
People are somewhat taken aback when I say I don’t want to be a menace to my family, employees, or friends. Parker Palmer got it right when he described a leader as “someone with the power to project either shadow or light onto some part of the world and onto the lives of the people…
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Beyond the List of “Shoulds”: Receiving God’s Invitation
“Many times today I will cross over a threshold. I hope I will catch a few of those times. I need to remember that my life is, in fact, a continuous series of thresholds: from one moment to the next, from one thought to the next, from one action to the next. Help me appreciate…
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3 Leadership Lessons St. Francis Taught Me From His Failures
Like all of us, St. Francis scored some wins and some losses when it came to leadership. And like all of us, Francis didn’t always know in advance which approach to leadership would prove effective. Francis’ failures can prove just as instructive as his successes. As I reflect on Francis’ life, three lessons in leadership…
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Blind Hope
Expectancy and joy filled my heart as I arrived at Dayspring Silent Retreat Center to lead our first in-person open retreat since the pandemic closed our doors. The theme was “seeding hope in transition,” a theme that fired my prayer for a long time preceding this October weekend. What I quickly realized at the start was…
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The Isle of Iona: A Thin Place
“I’ve heard it called a ‘thin place,’” he told me. “I’m not sure I believe that so I want to see for myself.” It sounded to my ears as if he’d laid down a challenge — to me or the island; I wasn’t sure which. This apparent skepticism from someone I respect gave me pause.…
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Keep Walking: An Invitation to Pilgrimage with Shalem on the Camino de Santiago
Walking has long been a pillar of my spiritual life. As a child, I remember walking with my grandmother around her neighborhood and mine, noticing the rabbits hopping about and the birds whizzing from feeder to feeder. I recall many walks with my mother at the cemetery, laying flowers on her father’s grave and listening…