SEEDS e-Newsletter
Centered in Spirit
Part 1 of 2 reflections on intentions for a committed spiritual life: A life centered in the Divine is like a planet in secure orbit, always oriented around the Spirit. Core intentions toward a life-centered in God will redirect us toward inner attentiveness, openness, trust, and letting go.
“You’re Not from These Shores, Are Ye?”
USUALLY, WHEN I’M ASKED A VARIATION of the “Where are you from?” question, I get annoyed, because the questioner, maybe unwittingly, is claiming his/her territory, and I am perceived as ‘other’ — an outsider. When I was asked that question in Michigan, I would reply...
Resurrections
UNDERGIRDING ALL THE PERSPECTIVES AND THEOLOGIES about the death and resurrection of Jesus rests an existential truth. The essence of Godness is Life. God creator, sustainer, healer, transformer, redeemer. Everything of God’s nature is working toward Life. Robust, joy...
Ordinary Kindness
My daughter, Belinda, and our Shih Tzu—a.k.a. Crouton—can be seen walking together in our neighborhood. Belinda is friendly and open hearted, so she knows the names of many of our two and four legged neighbors. Crouton has an adorable charm that attracts folks’...
The Asking
THE HAWAIIAN MISSION HOUSE MUSEUM is right there on South King Street, so if you’re taking the bus to the beach or to the shopping center, you’re going to pass it every time. Still—maybe because the signage is small, or maybe because tourists don’t come to Oahu to visit museums—I manage to be the only person who shows up for the 1pm guided tour.
Rooted in Spirit
OVERNIGHT, AN EYE-CATCHING CURLY WILLOW TREE in my front yard crashed to the ground. I’m thankful nothing else was damaged. My family had marveled at its corkscrew branches, but harsh cold, rain, and then wind in the Pacific Northwest finally toppled it. We’ve since learned that Curly Willows have a really shallow root system.
Thanksgiving and the Joy of the New
MY SPIRIT IS FILLED TO OVERWHELMING with the ways our GOOD NEWS Associates community has undergirded us with support this year—monetarily, spiritually, physically, and emotionally.
Receptivity, personality, transformation
WHAT I LOVE MOST ABOUT SPRING, even more than birdsong and blossom and melting snow is the day-by-day, minute-by-minute, evidence of new life.
This I Know Experimentally
by Christine Hall “Thus, when God doth work who shall prevent it? And this I knew experimentally." —George Fox, 1647 (Quaker) WHAT DO YOU KNOW THAT YOU KNOW ABOUT THE HOLY? What’s unshakeable because you’ve lived it, felt it in your bones? How did you come to trust...
What Grown-Ups Do
By Emily Provance I NEVER KNEW HER NAME, but she sat there wiggling in a Tweety Bird sweatshirt. School in Loltuleilei, Kenya, was supposed to start at 6:00pm for the shepherds, but my little friend couldn’t tell time, or didn’t have a clock--or maybe didn’t care....
