Category: Uncategorized
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What is stopping you?
Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year) will be on September 21st and 22nd this year. In preparation for this new beginning, The Well is offering reflection prompts for each day of the month leading up to Rosh Hashanah. The prompt I discovered this past Saturday on Twitter was so good, I couldn’t help but #Reflect4Rosh…
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God as an annihilating silence
Annihilate (verb): destroy utterly; obliterate; defeat Christian Wiman describes God as an “annihilating silence” in My Bright Abyss. What does Wiman mean by this? That God is a soundless, destructive force? That God is an unapprehensible energy moving among us? Or, that God is a SILENCE that can destroy all the NOISE of our life, all the…
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Breathing with the Trees
We just returned from a week of camping in Northern Michigan. I love the trees in the campground where we stay. Walking among them, listening to the wind rustling their leaves, standing aghast at the blue sky to which they point, is worship. Two years ago I wrote this blog post about our trip to…
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Stephen King’s Advice for Preachers
Stephen King’s memoir, On Writing, is popular among writers seeking to improve their craft. But it wasn’t until I read Maggie Zhang’s article, “22 Lessons from Stephen King on how to be a great writer”, that I realized preachers could learn a lot from King too. Read the full list of practical advice for yourself. …
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We belong to each other
I CELEBRATE myself, and sing myself, And what I assume you shall assume, For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. — Walt Whitman ***** I took a class on the personal essay and memoir at a weeklong writing conference this summer. What attracts me to these conferences is not just the focus…
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Poetry for the Nation
“Poetry comes from conflict,” the poet Dorianne Laux says. “If it’s all nostalgia and wonderful it’s a hallmark card. If it’s a political rant, it’s an essay. Poetry is somewhere in between.” On this Independence Day, I need something in between. So I was excited to discover www.lovesexecutiveorder.com where a poem will be posted every…
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I’ll pray for you anyway
“I just got back from Walgreens where I bought boxes of band aids, Neosporin, and hydrocortisone cream.” This was my response to Sister’s Margaret’s inquiry into the summer activities of my children. I try to visit her Benedictine monastery once a month for spiritual direction. “The kids are doing great,” I said. “But Isaac came…
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My Favorite Writing Podcasts (at the moment)
Every once in a while I get sucked into an advertisement for a writing conference…ten days….in a beautiful retreat house…overlooking a lake…in Guatemala…eating organic food…practicing yoga…for $3,000 (housing and travel not included.) Yikes! Price tags like this are good reality checks. Seriously, what does it take to grow in your writing craft? Pen, paper, butt…
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Art wakes us up to the world
Just about every day I walk by McMichael Academic Building on our college’s campus where the art program is housed. Typically, I am running late for a meeting, racing to beat the chimes tolling on the top of Wallace Hall with my nose pressed to my smartphone to make sure I don’t miss a single…
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What are you reading?
J.K. Rowling offers this advice to writers: “Read as much as you possibly can. Nothing will help you as much as reading.” So here are a few books that are on my summer reading list: Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxanne Gay This book of essays by Roxanne Gay has been popular for a few years…
Teri McDowell Ott 