Holding Space
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Walking Shoes
Lisa was seated on the edge of her bed, back hunched with Parkinson’s, blue eyes teary and looking at me questioningly. Her voice was weak and she was struggling to communicate, but her eyes were sharp. “I’m Kara, the chaplain with hospice,” I introduced myself, trying to understand what she needed. When I couldn’t, she reached for her phone, fingers hitting all the wrong keys. She gave up. I could tell something was wrong, but I was at a loss to understand what. Eventually, the house manager for the small assisted living walked in. Lisa had called for help that…
4 min read
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Don’t Just Do Something! Stand there!
I embarked on my contemplative journey on accident, on an airplane somewhere over Senegal. I was returning from the U.S. to complete my second year of teaching in Mozambique, on the southeast coast of Africa. Randy Harris was giving a lecture via my tiny mp3 player. Dr. Harris was a professor at Abilene Christian University and someone had recommended him to me, so I got on iTunes (remember that?), and downloaded all the free things I could find. He suggested sitting in silence with God for 15 minutes every day. I’m not sure why I listened. Perhaps I was, as…
4 min read
