Awareness often begins in a very small space. It may be no more than a breath, a pause, or a fraction of a second between what rises within us and what we choose to do next. This week, I continue my series on the ripening dimensions of being alive with the seventh dimension: ripening awareness. I … Continue reading Ripening Awareness: The Space Before We React
We live in a world that often praises maximum effort. Push harder.Do more.Prove yourself.Keep going. But what if the most faithful effort is not always the greatest effort we can possibly produce? What if ripe effort is something gentler? Throughout this Ripening Series, I have been reflecting on dimensions of a life well lived—not as … Continue reading Ripening Effort: Gentleness in What We Bring
You are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are. We have been exploring a series of interrelated practices that I call the Ripening Practices. I use the word ripening because I do not believe we are often in a static state. In any given moment, we are moving toward ripeness or … Continue reading Ripening Enoughness: I Am, and That’s Enough
Most of us imagine that changing the world requires grand gestures. We wait for the perfect opportunity, the important conversation, the defining moment when we can finally make a significant difference. But what if the deepest changes in our lives—and in the lives of others—happen in moments so ordinary that we almost miss them? Recently, … Continue reading Ripening Action: The Ripples You Never See
This week, as this episode is released, I am in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, serving with the Appalachian Service Project. Alongside youth and adults from Dulin United Methodist Church, I’ll spend the week helping make homes warmer, safer, and drier. It is a week of service, but it is also a week of practice. This … Continue reading Ripening Intention: Showing Up as Yourself
This week I head off to Annual Conference. For those unfamiliar with United Methodist life, Annual Conference is a yearly gathering of clergy and lay members from across a region. We worship together, study scripture together, conduct the business of the church, approve budgets, celebrate ministry, commission new leaders, and make decisions about our shared … Continue reading Ripening View: Learning to See Relationally
Infinitely Precious 