For the Life of the World

Devotional thoughts, reflections and essays from a Minister and Spiritual Director with an Ecumenical Franciscan twist.

[jmlongworth78]

A Place to Pray- Part 1

The places we live have plenty of locations for special purposes; rooms to prepare meals and store food, rooms for breaking bread, room...

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Rebuilding the Trellis

Previously, I wrote about how my rule of life serves as a trellis for my spiritual life, comparing it to the structures I erected in th...

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For Christians, today is the 6th day of Christmas, which puts us halfway through the celebration of the Incarnation. Beginning on the F...

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Models of Discernment

This Sunday, I’ll be teaching an adult class on Franciscan models of discernment at St. Michael’s Epsicopal Church in Brattleboro, VT. ...

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Riding the Long Wave to Shore

Learning I am frequently encouraging people to offer to the world what they have the personal and spiritual resources to give, which of ...

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[jmlongworth78]

Wack-a-Mole

Whether they are thoughts, memories, and sensations from things that happened in our past, or the spontaneous reactions that our minds an...

[jmlongworth78]

Gentle Repurposing

The 1976 Flexible Flyer used to help my partner race downhill with siblings and enjoy all of the magic that a New England winter had to o...

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Adapting Our Practice

Our little dog is getting old. Sure 14 going on 15 doesn’t sound old, but that’s 102 in human years! It seems like everything is up for...

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Building a Trellis: A Rule & A Practice

Last weekend I spent a significant bit of time on a single garden project. I built a raspberry trellis out of wood, cable, and metal stak...

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Staying Afloat

It’s been a little bit as I’ve been spending time being gentle with myself. I hope that my readers and clients find ways to take that f...

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Bearing Witness in the Fading Day

Here in the northern hemisphere, we’re growing accustomed to an ever growing number of daylight hours. Christian communities who follow t...

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Capturing Attunement

One key function of prayer, meditation, and reflection time is a form of self-care that I like to call self-nurture. It’s the act of both...

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Creativity as Meditation

Prayer doesn’t always look like words. Meditation doesn’t always look like soaking in something made by another person. Sometimes, the ...

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What Shines Through

In my personal practice this week, I’m sitting with the fascinating confluence of celebrations and solemn remembrances in my geographic...

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Reimagining is Not Abandoning

Today’s post owes a great deal of gratitude to the teachings of Jessica Fern and Deb Dana, both clinical social workers. One of the gr...

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Baggage Goons

Sometimes clients ask about the phenomenon. Other times I try to give a fair warning when it seems like their practice is helping to re...