Location is not presence. We can physically occupy a place while being mentally, emotionally, or spiritually somewhere else entirely. We can sit in a meeting while thinking about everything waiting for us afterward. We can walk through a familiar neighborhood without noticing the trees, the changing light, or the sounds of life around us. We … Continue reading Inhabiting Place: Learning to Be Here
We say we need rest. And yet, when we finally stop, many of us almost immediately reach for something else to do. We check the phone. We think about the email we forgot to answer. We notice the task waiting in the other room. We lie down at night and, rather than resting, begin mentally … Continue reading Inhabiting Rest
When we hear the word work, most of us probably think first about employment. What do you do for a living? What is your job? Your career? Your vocation? For me, the answer is pastor. That is work I do. It is work for which I am compensated. It is part of how I spend a … Continue reading Inhabiting Work: Letting the Inner Life Grow Hands
We are born into relationship. Before we ever speak a word, make a choice, or understand ourselves as separate people, we are already connected. We begin in relationship within the womb. We emerge into a family, a history, a body, a world. We breathe air shared by countless others. We inherit something from those who … Continue reading Inhabiting Relationship
There are some things in life we would rather move through quickly. Pain. Struggle. Loss. Grief. We may even imagine that healing means eventually getting to a place where these things no longer touch us. But I’m not sure that is how grief works. Perhaps grief is not something we are meant simply to “get … Continue reading Inhabiting Grief: Loving What We Cannot Keep
Pain has a way of narrowing the world. When it arrives—physical, emotional, spiritual, relational—our instinct is often immediate: get away from it. Distract ourselves. Fix it. Numb it. Move somewhere else. Do almost anything except remain in the place where it hurts. I know that instinct well. As an Enneagram Seven, one of my familiar … Continue reading Inhabiting Pain
There is a difference between simply having a body and actually inhabiting it. Last week, I began what I’m calling the Inhabiting series by reflecting on what it might mean to inhabit your life as a gift — to live from the deep awareness that you are precious, and that your preciousness shapes the way you engage … Continue reading Inhabiting the Body
For the past nine weeks, I have been thinking and talking about ripening—the ways our spiritual lives grow, deepen, mature, and become more fully what they are capable of becoming. But lately another word has been arising for me: Inhabiting. Not simply growing into something. Not striving toward some future version of ourselves. But learning to … Continue reading Inhabiting the Gift You Already Are
A reflection from the Infinitely Precious podcast Hello, beloved. For months now, we've been walking together through what I call the ripening dimensions of life — the ways we're always moving toward greater ripeness, or sometimes away from it, in any given moment. (A little Aramaic trivia for you: the root of the word "good," … Continue reading Ripening Playfulness: Awake to Delight
Pip: Infinitely Precious — a site where optimization culture meets its gentler, wiser adversary, and the adversary wins every time.Mara: James has been writing across some rich territory lately — the ripening practices, a series of creeds holding mystery and love, and a look at what forty years of ministry actually teaches you about yourself. … Continue reading Podcast Episode: Creeds Of Ripening Faith
