spiritual journey | Reflections on the Teche

Posts Tagged ‘spiritual journey’

Spiritual Thursday and Poetry Friday: Advent

Posted in Poetry Friday, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged #wordlepoem, advent, Inklings challenge, spiritual journey on December 4, 2025| 18 Comments »

Spiritual Journey posts are gathered by Jone MacCulloch

Poetry Friday is gathered this week by Irene Latham at Live Your Poem.

Advent is here! Our priest announced last Sunday, “Happy New Year” because the Episcopal liturgical year begins with Advent. Jone inspired us to write about the Advent words- hope, peace, joy, and love.

For Spiritual Thursday, I offer an image poem for each word of advent.

If you are interested in joining the Spiritual Journey posts each month and hosting one month, fill in this Google sheet or send me an email.

For the first Poetry Friday each month, the Inklings do a challenge. This month Heidi asked us to write a letter to an article of clothing. Last year, I bought a cozy robe at the L.L. Bean store in Maine. The weather has turned dreary and cold here this week, so my robe is doing its job keeping me warm. I didn’t write a letter, though. I took an idea from fellow Inkling Molly Hogan to write a Wordle haiku with the three words I guessed today. If you haven’t done Thursday’s puzzle yet, you can come back later.

Blue plush peace fleece
a strip of fake fur cuff
Tulip in winter.

To see how other Inklings did the challenge, check out their posts.

Heidi
Catherine
Molly
Mary Lee
Linda

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Spiritual Thursday: Embracing Doubt

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, doubt, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, spiritual journey on November 6, 2025| 4 Comments »

Patricia Franz is gathering Spiritual Journey posts this week at her blog, Reverie.

When Patricia prompted us to write about doubt, a song started on repeat in my head. I sang the lyric, “drive the dark of doubt away” from “Ode to Joy.”

“Fill us with the light of day!”

If you know this hymn, I’ve now passed the earworm on to you. Sorry.

But as I contemplate doubt, I realize that it’s not dark. Without doubt, we wouldn’t have belief or clarity.

This first year of retirement has thrown a lot of doubt my way. What do I do now? Where is my purpose? What are my goals? Who am I if not a teacher?

All of these questions are necessary to get me to the next chapter of my life. They are normal and necessary.

I follow poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. She generously sends a poem each day. I used this poem to inspire my poem today.

Here I Pray

My doubt has fog in it,
steam that glows on the bayou,
and a sky above preparing for a new day.

There is Spanish moss here,
swaying in soft breeze
gathering space for doubt.

I meet myself in the mist,
question her purpose,
wonder where she will go now.

I am certain only of not knowing.
I am comfortable in this doubt
holding the gift of more time.

Margaret Simon, draft

Bayou Teche with fog glow, by Margaret Simon

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Spiritual Journey Thursday: Compassionate Rainbow

Posted in Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged spiritual journey on October 2, 2025| 8 Comments »

Spiritual Journey posts are being gathered by Kim Johnson at Common Threads.

It’s a God thing.

I started this day not knowing what I wanted to write about. Kim asked us to write about compassion. I waited for inspiration.

Nothing. So I went for a walk.

There was a soft rain shower, but I went anyway.

And then God did God’s thing: a double rainbow!

When I see a rainbow, I have a list of people I send it to.

Julie: Julie lost her daughter to drowning, and she feels her presence when she sees a rainbow. When I texted it to Julie, she said someone else had already told her and she had gone out to see it herself. She texted back her photos.

Wilson: Wilson lost Betty this summer. I walk by their house on my route, so I think about her and miss her every day. Wilson responded, “I needed this.”

Susan: She’s battling cancer and has had some rough news lately. I wanted her to know she was in my prayers.

Suzy: I’ve sent rainbow photos to Suzy for years. She lost two husbands. When her first husband died, we were teaching together. She told me that when she was trying to make a difficult decision, she felt that Steve sent her a rainbow to let her know she was OK. We may not talk as often now, but the rainbow exh

Shirley: Shirley had knee surgery a few weeks ago. The tip of the rainbow touched the roof of her house. She, too, responded that she needed it today.

Two Lisas: I meant to send the photo to Lisa D., but I accidentally sent it to Lisa R. It was fine because my message was “I hope you find peace today.” Lisa R. wrote, “Yesterday at healing service I prayed for a clean heart.”

Finally got it to Lisa D. who lost her husband early this year to cancer.

The double rainbow compassion gave me a way to reach out to friends in a loving way. May you find miracles around you, and a way to share them with others. It’s a God thing, making connections and being near each other in grief and pain.

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Spiritual Journey and Poetry Friday: Family and Prayer

Posted in being mamére, Gratitude, Poetry Friday, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Alberto Rios, Dot Gibson, family, paradox poem, Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, spiritual journey, Spiritual poetry on August 8, 2025| 16 Comments »

Spiritual Journey First Thursday is being gathered by Leigh Anne Eck at A Day in the Life.

Leigh Anne asked us to write about family this month. Family is my priority always, but since retiring, I find myself dedicating more time to my children and grandchildren.

This week as my husband and I celebrate 43 years of marriage, I am caring for my grandchildren in New Orleans. My colleagues are going back to school and while I admit to feeling a pang of “I should be there”, I am grateful I am not. My mind and body are more relaxed, and I am able to devote energy to my family. What a blessing!

Next weekend we will all gather in Jackson, MS to celebrate my mother’s long life of 89 years. My mother, Dorothy Liles Gibson, was dedicated to family. She taught me the value of being fully present. I have selected this poem to read at her service: “Let the Last Thing Be Song.” My mother was a musician all her life. She taught piano lessons and got her masters in piano. She was a founding member of the Jackson Music Forum. She was also an active choir member at St. James Episcopal Church. I look forward to being with all of my children and grandchildren, siblings and their families, as well as friends and cousins. We will raise our voices to praise her life.

I am taking a poetry workshop with Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. This week she used a model poem by Alberto Rios, “When Giving is All We Have” to talk about paradox in a poem. She gave us a prompt with a variety of anaphoric phrases. I chose prayer. “We pray because…” I’m sharing the draft of my poem.

When Prayer is all We Have

After Alberto Rios “When Giving is All We Have”

We pray because we are lost.
We pray because we are found.

We pray because prayer changes us.
We pray because prayer changes nothing.

We hold hands to pray.
We kneel alone in the sand.

Prayers have many ways to begin:
Our Father
Dear Lord
Ah, me
I am here

Silence can be a prayer.

Prayers connect us to the dead.
We are helpless in prayer.

What I do not have, I offer to prayer—an empty voice, a sigh of desperation.
Does it matter who is listening?

The prayer makes all the difference.

Margaret Simon, draft

Molly Hogan has the Poetry Friday link up today at Nix the Comfort Zone.

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Spiritual Thursday: Summering

Posted in Gratitude, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, tagged #poemsofpresence, Georgia Heard, Mary Oliver, nature poem, spiritual journey, stillness on June 5, 2025| 9 Comments »

Ramona is gathering Spiritual Journey: First Thursday posts at Pleasures from the Page.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” John 14:27

When Ramona suggested that we write about “summering” for our Spiritual Journey posts this month, I turned to two passages that bring me peace. Too often, I have a long “to do” list for summer that usually includes cleaning out closets and such dreaded chores. These kinds of chores are good for me but are not what I want to do. I’d rather have lunch with friends, go on long walks, and binge watch a show or two.

The poem “Wild Geese” from Mary Oliver reminds me that all I should do is love what I love and let the wild geese call to me. On these early June days, it’s not wild geese, but buzzing cicadas that call to me. The heat of midday sends me inside for a glass of La Croix with ice. I am settling into a routine and trying hard not to pressure myself to do more.

In May, I was inspired by Georgia Heard’s calendar of prompts for small poems. In June, her newsletter held an invitation to porch poems. You can sign up to receive Heart Beats on her website. Porch poem #3 asked “What happens in stillness?” Here is my poem response.

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Spiritual Thursday: Psalm of Lament

Posted in Poetry, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged Lament, Psalms, spiritual journey on April 3, 2025| 7 Comments »

Ruth is gathering the first Thursday Spiritual Journey posts at her blog: There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

Ruth had a suggestion for this first Thursday that ties to the season of Lent: write a Psalm of Lament. I have been laid up with Covid all week. It’s not a severe case, but it’s lingering and frustrating me with headaches and a lack of energy. I got outside for a walk this morning, and that has helped my disposition greatly. On my walk, my priest (who happens to live in my neighborhood) stopped her car and asked, “Are you off of school today?”

We talked, and she advised me to lean into this quiet time. To let God work in God’s time. Of course, that is good advice, but it’s not what I wanted to hear when I just want to be over it already. I pulled out a copy of the New Zealand Prayer Book and started to read the Psalms.

As I read, I realized the psalmists were just regular people living their regular lives and wanting more, wishing for God to redeem them, make their suffering worthwhile. When we read these old texts, we feel ourselves in those moments of stress, worry, ill health, and mourning. It’s a universal experience, lament.

Like my cats mew waiting
for my footsteps, waiting for me to greet them,
so do I long for you, God.

My illness clouds my thoughts,
so I reach for your presence. I cry,
“Where now is my God?”

I wait in hope
as a desert rose thirsts for clean water.
I open my ears to hear

the roar of wind breaking branches
calling through tones
of a wind chime in the tree.

I am the one whose branches are broken
who sings a mournful tune.

You, O God, are my strength.
You save me from the destructive wind.
You hand me a cup of hot tea, a spoon of honey,
sweet taste of life.

Why do I mourn when I have such gifts?

Wait, you say, wait in hope.
Sit in stillness
for You are here
with me.

Margaret Simon, draft

The Kidlit Progressive Poem is with Robyn Hood Black today.

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Slice of Life Day 6: Spiritual Journey to Wholeness

Posted in Slice of Life, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged spiritual journey, wholeness on March 6, 2025| 8 Comments »

Denise Krebs is hosting first Thursday Spiritual Journey posts at Dare to Care

Each month a group of bloggers, who met through the Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Challenge, gather to write posts about our spiritual journeys. This month Denise asked us to write on the topic of wholeness.

I think I may find wholeness by looking outward
to someone else to make me complete,
to their words of affirmation.

Wholeness is a river where my path moves in and out.
I find balance one day,
then a wind knocks me over the next.

I can watch the seedling grow,
but cannot see the growth in myself.

Whole means all of me–
Here now, in the present moment
where I am welcomed, accepted, and loved.

Broken, cracked, grieving, or angry.
All of me
Whole.

Resurrection fern on an old oak tree revived by rain.

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for creating an amazing community of writers and a safe, welcoming space to write and share.

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Spiritual Thursday and Poetry Friday: Open the Door

Posted in Poetry Friday, Spiritual Growth, Writing, tagged cherita, ekphrasis, Inklings challenge, public domain image, resurrection fern, spiritual journey on February 7, 2025| 23 Comments »

Poetry Friday is hosted today by Carol at Beyond Literacy Link

On the first Friday of the month, Inklings (my trusty writing group) respond to a challenge. Mary Lee made it easy this month. She asked us to type a color into the public domain image archive and find a photo to write about. I chose lilac. I immediately got a photo I knew was telling a story. I imagined that Lilas and the bug are having a conversation.

“Unhappy the man who never had his eyes fill with tears at the sight of a particular flower. Such a one can have been neither a child nor a youth. He can have had neither mother, sister, nor affianced bride. He never loved.” This is the tone and tenor throughout *Les Fleurs animées* (The Flowers personified), a collection of floral — and sometimes florid — writing, featuring playful illustrations by J. J. Grandville (1803–1847), engraved and hand-colored by Charles Michel Geoffroy.

How Lilas Learns of Love (a cherita)

With draping lilacs for long locks,

Lilas questions Sir Ladybug,
“Where will my love grow?”

Love grows from a starter seed
planted small in your heart
until with wisdom, grace, and tender care…Blooms!

Margaret Simon, draft

To see other Inkling poems, visit their blogs:
Linda @A Word Edgewise
Mary Lee @ A(nother) Year of Reading
Molly @ Nix the Comfort Zone (and oh boy, did she ever…)
Heidi @my juicy little universe
Catherine @ Reading to the Core

Spiritual Journey first Thursday is gathered by Bob Hamera.

Bob suggested we ponder the idea that doors may close while another one opens, how focusing on the closed door may lead us to miss the open one. My father spoke about this in his firm belief that there is always a resurrection. Jesus showed us in a very real sense that when someone dies, it is not the end. I’ve always prided myself on a belief in the resurrection; however, when faced with an actual closed door, a death of something in my life that I put my trust in, whether it be a job, a friendship, a manuscript, I get lost and lonely and question. That is the rough part of the death/resurrection story arc.

I am following a path to a new journey to retirement. This is a door I’ve chosen, but even so, I have mixed feelings. So many of my days with my students are good, happy, and fulfilling. I will miss teaching, I know. I also know I’m a teacher through and through. I chose this career when I was 15 years old. I will find ways to still be a teacher. I keep telling myself this truth, but it’s not easy. When I tell people I’m retiring, I hear “Congratulations!” I wish I could feel excited. Is it the closed door I fear? Or the open one I’m unsure about?

Resurrection fern is grey when the sun is out, but turns to bright green after the rain. May God bless us with the knowledge and grit to survive the grey and thrive again after the rain.

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Spiritual Thursday: Wintering

Posted in Gratitude, Spiritual Growth, tagged Enneagram, spiritual journey, Susan Piver on December 5, 2024| 8 Comments »

Spiritual Journey, First Thursday is being hosted today by Kim Johnson at Common Threads. This is Kim’s first time to host, so please give her some comment love!

Kim Johnson, our SJT host, has read a new book, Wintering by Katherine May. I have not read this, but I loved reading Kim’s thoughts about how winter gives us some time to read and reflect. I wish I could say that I’ve had that kind of time, but the truth is things have been quite frenzied around my house. But a spiritual journey means even in times of stress, we should make moments in our day for prayer, meditation, and reflection.

I am currently reading The Buddhist Enneagram: Nine Paths to Warriorship by Susan Piver. I heard her on a podcast called The Austin Enneagram by Elizabeth Chapin. The author Susan Piver writes concisely about the enneagram numbers while adding in Buddhist teachings around warriorship. Who doesn’t want to be a warrior? I struggle to embrace the good aspects of my number (four) and tend to focus more often on the negative ones, such as overrun emotions and shame. Working on ourselves and with our personalities is a lifelong spiritual journey.

AI tells me “In Buddhism, warriorship is about being present with what is happening, and not reacting with fight or flight. It’s about facing one’s own neurosis in order to address the neurosis of the world”

I can become a warrior by living in gratitude.

On one of those frenzied days, I became overcome by irritation, so I took a drive by myself. I went to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription. While I checked out, a woman recognized me and told me how her husband was in the hospital. My heart went out to her. Also, my irritation was relieved. God was letting me know, through presence and empathy, I can be selfless and generous. Maybe I can be a warrior who “addresses the neurosis of the world.”

What are you reading on these cold days? How are you being a warrior?

Here is the link to the Google spreadsheet for 2025 if you would like to host a month for Spiritual Journey First Thursday. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1G73WNfn54dXAqT8gJTAcPfPtmWh0pXxo1LrTdf2aTMA/edit?usp=sharing

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This Photo Wants to be a Poem: Prayer Candles

Posted in Photography, Poetry, Spiritual Growth, This Photo Wants to be a Poem, Writing, tagged #poemsofpresence, #smallpoems, poetry, prayer candles, spiritual journey, This Photo Wants to be a Poem on November 6, 2024| 28 Comments »

Prayer candles in St. James Episcopal Church, 2024 by Margaret Simon

I was in my childhood home church on Sunday. While the scent of incense lingered, I walked over to the columbarium to say hello to my dad. I saw the metal rack of votive candles. I decided to light a candle for my mother, in hospice care at the end stages of Alzheimer’s, and one for my daughter’s mother-in-law who is battling cancer. To light a candle for someone symbolizes the prayer intention. Do we need this symbols? I believe we can pray without them, of course, but something in me was comforted by the act of lighting.

I invite you to consider holy moments, whether they be in church or out in nature, perhaps even in the quiet of your day. We can set intentions and practice mindfulness. What are your intentions today? Write a small poem in the comments and encourage others who write with us.