Minute Meditations
Gratitude Is the Mystical Minimum
G.K. Chesterton spoke of the “mystical minimum,” which he defined as gratitude. When we stand in the immense abundance of the True Self, there is no time or space for being hurt. We are always secure, at rest, and foundationally grateful. The grateful response for what is given—seeing the cup half full— requires seeing with a completely different set of eyes than the eyes that always see the cup as half empty. I don’t think it’s an oversimplification to say that people basically live either in an overall attitude of gratitude or an overall attitude of resentment.
The True Shape of Things
Our world is filled with contradictions needing to be reconciled, inconsistencies within us and between us. Life is neither perfectly consistent and rational nor is it a chaotic mess. It does contain, however, constant paradoxes, exceptions, and flaws. That is ...
Read More →
It's All about Forgiveness
If we don’t get forgiveness, we’re missing the whole mystery. We are still living in a world of meritocracy, of quid-pro-quo thinking, of performance and behavior that earns an award. Forgiveness is the great thawing of all logic, reason, and ...
Read More →
Families and Rituals
Rituals create families, in a sense. Any parent knows that when they do something at least two years in a row, the little ones wait for it in the third year. Children have a natural sense of timing, ritual, seasons, ...
Read More →
Change Is Hard
The word change normally refers to new beginnings. But transformation, the mystery we’re examining, more often happens not when something new begins, but when something old falls apart. The pain of something old falling apart—chaos—invites the soul to listen at ...
Read More →
Transformation Is a Process
Change happens, but transformation is always a process of letting go, living in the confusing, shadowy space for a while, and eventually being spit up on a new and unexpected shore. You can see why Jonah in the belly of ...
Read More →
Hope Is Participation in God's Life
Most of us are not free to say “yes” before we say “no.” Our first response is normally “no”: “I don’t trust that. I don’t like that. I don’t agree with that.” The word enthusiasm (en-theos in Greek) means “filled ...
Read More →
Sign Up for Our Daily Newsletter
Includes Saint of the Day, Minute Meditations, and Pause + Pray.