…World Sparrow Day! You thought I was going to say Spring Equinox, didn’t you? Well of course, on this blessed day too, and on the Autumnal Equinox for all in the Southern part of the globe. But my online friend Deb Swingholm (you should check out her website) mentioned on Facebook that today is also…
Category Archives: Sacred living
Sunday Collection: Women’s spirituality
Why a spirituality for women? Isn’t spirituality simply that, spirituality? Well perhaps. None of us can really share what spiritual experience means to us, no matter what gender we are. What I’m talking about in this week’s collection is spiritual practice and expression. And there are many reasons, some obvious, some more subtle, for spiritual…
What makes a nest?
On Tuesday I asked you about freedom. If you could live always as if you were on holiday, without a permanent home or chores, would you want to? A few people were enthusiastic, many wanted the best of both worlds, and quite a few of you described your love of ‘nesting’. So I wondered, what…
How to be ordinary
What? You want me to be ordinary? Well yes, in the best sense of the word. There’s a lot of pressure to be whatever the world defines as extraordinary and I think the pursuit of it can lead us away from who we really are. What does ordinary mean? So let me explain what I…
Where did our joy go?
On Sunday at church we had a very gloomy-doomy sermon. Lent. Repentance. Giving up things we enjoy. Evil. Sackcloth. Temptation. Ashes. Look, I know that if you choose to follow this mad religion of mine, you’re signing up for a certain amount of tragedy. It is, after all, based on sin and salvation. The symbol…
I wish you love
I wish you shelter from the storm, A cosy fire to keep you warm, But most of all, when snowflakes fall I wish you love. Music Leo Chauliac, English lyrics Albert A Beach Sung beautifully here by Blossom Dearie It wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day if we didn’t think about love, would it? And I’m thinking…
Solstice dreaming
Tomorrow in the northern hemisphere we celebrate the Winter Solstice. As the Earth’s axis tilts, we dip into the dark, the longest night of the year. (While of course just the opposite is happening in the south. Our Earth is most wonderfully balanced.) And yet, just as we head into the coldest months of the…
Scared to be sacred?
When we’re teenagers we usually question things endlessly. Often during the middle decades we’re too busy with careers and families to question so much. But then as we grow older we begin to ask questions all over again. Often our questions are around spirituality. Those of us who have been conventionally religious might leave or…
How to keep a gratitude journal
If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is “thank you”, that will suffice Meister Eckhart With our friends in the US celebrating Thanksgiving this week, it’s a good time to focus on being thankful. One of my favourite ways of doing this is by keeping a gratitude journal. I know, it sounds…
Next to Godliness: a review
I was mocked gently not so long ago when a group of us were talking about how to run a women’s self-catering weekend workshop. I enthused about the sense of community we would create together as we worked in the kitchen to prepare meals and wash dishes. My friends had in mind the sense of…
