A Word to the Wise ~ Integrity / Part 2

Posted on October 28, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

Integrity [ in–teg–ri-tee ] Part 2 Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says Read more [...]

A Word to the Wise ~ Integrity / Part 1

Posted on October 24, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

Integrity [ in-teg-ri-tee ] Part 1 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. ~ Proverbs 11:3 You have upheld me because of my integrity, and set me in your presence forever. Read more [...]

“I Was Wondering if You— “

Posted on October 22, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

We’re all just walking each other home. ~ Ram Dass I have never been anywhere but sick. In a sense sickness is a place more instructive than a long trip to Europe, and it’s always a place where nobody can follow. Sickness before death is Read more [...]

Acting Our Way into Belief ~ A Life-Line

Posted on October 19, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

Today's Life-Line is: Bridges once wrote Gerard Manley Hopkins and asked him to tell him how he, Bridges, could believe. Bridges was an agnostic. Hopkins wrote back, "Give alms." ~ Flannery O'Connor Goodpeople, thank you for visiting THE ALMOND TREE. So Read more [...]

Abolishing Division ~ A Life-Line

Posted on October 15, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

Today's Life-line is: Joy, laughter, and delight are so powerful because, like all mysticism, they abolish conventional divisions, in this case the division between secular and sacred. ~ Dorothee Soelle I have long appreciated what I call "the Read more [...]

Out of Style ~ The Mystic as Misfit

Posted on October 14, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

A MYSTIC is someone who has a habit of falling in love with life however it manifests itself—whether in its inelegant or elegant simplicity, entangled intricacy, or rapturous ecstasy, and despite its inexplicable but assured agonies. The mystic Read more [...]

Why a Regular Spiritual Practice?

Posted on October 13, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

Buddhists say enlightenment is always accidental, but that spiritual practice makes us accident prone. Jim Finley, clinical psychologist, teacher of the contemplative way, and former student of Thomas Merton describes contemplative practice this Read more [...]

The Only Sensible Thing to Do

Posted on October 11, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

Over time I've learned the first expression of prayer is the face of a child full of wonder. And once they get their first taste of wonder they pray more and more and more. As children grow up and become adults they seem to pray less Read more [...]

The Kingdom of God ~ A Life-Line

Posted on October 10, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

. . . maybe the only moral issue for us in life is to try to discern what is the will of God for our life. What is it that we are called to be and called to become? And I think Jesus modeled asking that question in a radical way and lived out Read more [...]

Being Alive to the Aliveness of God

Posted on October 9, 2021 by Daniel J. Miller

If we want to be spiritual, then, let us first of all live our lives. . . Let us embrace reality. ~ Thomas Merton Nineteenth century American poet Emily Dickinson famously wrote "Tell the truth/ but tell it slant." These days, from where I'm sitting, Read more [...]

The Sacred Braid

Helping Persons and Communities Weave Lives of Spiritual Depth.