Tender Places

Perseverance, Vulnerability

The Shape of a Heart

February 6, 2020 / 3 Comments

As I walked down the hallways of a busy child care center last week, I was surrounded by dozens of pink, white, red and lilac-blue hearts that adorned each class’s bulletin board. From the carefully printed and precisely-cut school-age classroom displays…

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Awareness, Vulnerability

A Bird Feeder Prayer

January 16, 2020 / 2 Comments

The temperature today here in Central Texas will climb to near 70 and we will be greeted by a drizzling rain. There are at least a dozen birds on the tube-like feeder that hangs from the mesquite tree branch bending over…

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Perseverance, Vulnerability

A Mock-Orange Renascence

January 6, 2020 / 2 Comments

I wrote this blog during one of Maine’s harsh winters. It focuses on The Tender Places theme for early January 2020- Perseverance and Tenacity. Enjoy! The tiniest tips of thin brown branches still peek out from under the several feet of…

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Transformation, Vulnerability

Reflecting Love

December 9, 2019 / 1 Comment

This entry is part of a series of blogs about ways that music, both secular and religious, can enlarge our Spirits and deepen our exploration of the Advent and Christmas seasons. Open My Eyes That I May See It is an…

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Vulnerability as a place of growth and strength seems a contradiction. What does it mean to be vulnerable in a spiritual sense? Is it a weak place in our defenses or the result of inexperience and naivety? How can vulnerability become a place of divine encounter and spiritual connection? Finding the balance between protection and openness can be difficult. The authors’ stories describe love and loss, caring and crisis, openness and woundedness, and healing and hurt. Vulnerability is a tender place where we experience both the exquisite joy and the searing pain of living in relationship with God and others.