Author: Sweet Tea and Front Porch Storyteller
-
Restored Along the Journey
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on Psalm 80, Deuteronomy 8, James 1, and Luke 9 Today’s Daily Office readings weave together a powerful spiritual truth: Life is a journey of restoration, testing, awakening, and transformation. The Psalmist cries out repeatedly: “Restore us, O God.”“Let your face shine, that we may be saved.” That cry still rises…
-
Emptiness Alone is prepared for Fulness
Richard Rohr in The Divine Dance is inviting us to rethink both God and ourselves — not as isolated beings competing for importance, but as participants in an eternal flow of self-giving love. At the center of this reflection is the ancient Christian idea of kenosis, the “self-emptying” described in Philippians 2: “Though he was…
-
Everything Created by God Is Good
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on Wonder, Gratitude, and the Sacredness of Creation Daily Office Readings There are days when the Daily Office readings seem scattered across very different landscapes of thought. One passage may celebrate creation, another may address church order, while another speaks in parables about wheat and weeds. Yet beneath these seemingly different…
-
The Divine Dance and Learning to Stop Resisting the Flow
Reflections from The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr Books & Mentors That Changed Me Series There are some books that merely inform us.Others quietly rearrange the furniture of the soul. One of those books for me has been The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr. I have found myself returning again and again to Rohr’s description…
-
Honor, Humility, and the Front Porch of Grace
Reflections on Romans 12:9–13 Daily Office Reflection “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves… Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”— Romans 12:9–13 There are passages in scripture that comfort us immediately. There…
-
Many Gifts, One Body
Living Romans 12:4–8 in the 21st Century Daily Office Reflection — Romans 12:4–8 “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” — Romans 12:4–5…
-
Sober Judgment: Learning to See Ourselves by Grace
Romans 12:3 may be one of the most needed verses for the twenty-first century: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each…
-
The Renewed Mind: Becoming Who We Were Created to Be
A Curious Pilgrim Reflection on Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.”— The Holy Bible There are moments in life when we suddenly realize we have been…
-
Daily Office Readings
Psalm 61Wisdom 10:1–21Romans 12:1–21Luke 8:1–15 The Transformed Life A Curious Pilgrim Journey Through Romans 12–14 Part One — “Present Your Bodies” “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”— Romans 12:1 There…
-
Who Can Learn the Counsel of God?
Today’s Daily Office readings invite us into one of life’s deepest questions. In the Book of Wisdom, the writer asks: “Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?”— Wisdom 9:17 It is an honest question. Human beings long for certainty. We want answers, clarity, direction,…
The Curious Pilgrim 