These are bitter cold days in Pittsburgh where I live. At this latitude these are also short days; among the shortest of the year, with either gray gloom or low glaring winter sun. It can be hard to simply be. Add in the busyness of the ramp-up to Christmas and it can be very hard to […]
Accidie — The Noontime Demon (The Writer’s Inner Life)
I’m working on making my working life happy and productive without having to punch a clock or meet institutional deadlines. So my advisors at the moment are the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Christians who moved out to the fourth century Egyptian desert for an isolated life of prayer. Sometimes they hit it straight out of the park, not just […]
Stay in Your Cell (The Writer’s Inner Life)
Here’s one of my favorite little stories from the sayings of the Desert Fathers: In Scetis a brother went to Moses to ask for advice. He said to him “Go and sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” (Quiet, 8) Moses wasn’t talking about prison. The “cell” was a monk’s hut […]
How to Find a Life-Giving Rhythm
Some lessons I have to learn over and over. Or maybe they are things that I just need to practice every day to learn at all. One of those lessons is how to find a life-giving rhythm in this chaotic world. Chaos can come in the form of too many demands from too many directions. Work […]
Lent: Taking Stock with Evagrius Ponticus
Lent is a season for self-examination. It is not mainly about feeling guilty. It is more like a chance to check the GPS (that might be “God Positioning System” if you like acronyms) and figure out exactly where you have come and where you still have to go. We often describe this life as a spiritual journey, […]
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