*** The doors to the Light House community are currently open. Join us for ongoing connection to other lightbearers as you steward your own light in the world. Learn more here. ***

Beth Knight is a free-range ecumenical minister who lets her creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, and eclectic style guide her in the ways she helps others find Spirit, connection, and mindfulness.

I've known Beth a long time, and it's been wonderful to see her vocational journey unfold over many years to bring her to a place that feels like home now. Hers is a path marked by faithfulness, discernment, and persistence—so inspiring!

In our conversation on the podcast today, we talk about:

* What it means to be a free-range minister and how Beth found her way to this naming of her work in the world

* Her love for labyrinths, noetic conscious aging, mindfulness, and bringing unique experiences to people of all ages and faith traditions

* The important role of networking and support for those ministering outside a denominational or institutional structure

* Her heart for people facing the challenges of the health care system, given her own experience with this

* Her desire for those outside the church to find a meaningful spiritual connection and expression that works for them

Connect with Beth on her website and on Instagram at @delenabeth_knight.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

*** Light House doors are open until January 6, but join us early for a live virtual retreat day on January 3! Learn more and sign up here. ***

The guest on today's episode of the Bear the Light show, Debbie Huff, is a special woman indeed. On this episode, she talks about Mama Grace, which is her special name for her Higher Power, and her intuitive practice of prayerful play, which is a prayer practice that may speak to you.

On this episode, we discuss:

* Needing to explore a God whose face is more like your own

* How to do a reading with soul cards and use them as a form of prayer (Debbie even does a reading for us right there in the interview!)

* The difference between prayer that comes from ourselves versus prayer that's more like receiving and responding to something

* What it's like for her to share this practice with others through collaborative readings

Connect with Debbie on Instagram at @gracedeb1.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

Just me today (a bonus episode!), and I'm talking to you about what it means to live a life marked by invitation and intention and how this connects to the way we show up and bear our light in the world.

Nestled inside this conversation is an invitation to join us in the Light House community. Doors open on a quarterly basis, and they're open today as we prepare to step into 2020. Join us for a virtual retreat day on Friday, January 3, and then continue forward in the community as someone stewarding light in particular ways.

Join us here.

Is addiction, in any of its many forms, a part of your family's story? Are you fearful that it might be? Do you know someone who is living this reality every day? Jean Heaton is a force wrapped in grace and truth who is bringing light to the experience of family addiction. She is a person who gets this reality and offers the hand of hope to everyone in this place. She's also seeking to raise awareness and reduce the stigma, particularly within church settings.

On this episode of Bear the Light, we talk about:

* The unexpected way our light can shift when a new part of our story emerges

* The particular challenges a parent faces when they suspect their child may have a problem

* The symptoms of addiction you might be noticing in someone you love

* The first honest prayer Jean uttered that helped her feel less alone and start to move forward

* What it means to "work" a 12-step program and how this applies to all of us

* What the 12 Steps have in common with the Ten Commandments and the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius

* How everybody's got somebody affected by this

* Jean's heart for more open conversations and safe spaces to be found in churches so families feel less alone

Connect with Jean on her website and on Instagram at @jeanheaton64.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

On the podcast today, I'm talking to Gretchen Crowder, whose life was changed by St. Ignatius of Loyola and his legacy of Ignatian spirituality. By leaning into Ignatian spirituality, she discovered her calling to be a writer.

On today's episode, we discuss:

* The way writing revision is also like life revision

* How paying attention to your experiences can help you discern your path

* How we can receive the gift of an experience many years after it happened, even if we didn't notice it at the time

* How our imperfections and sharing the light of them can be a gift to others

You also get a good primer on Ignatian spirituality from someone well equipped to talk about it!

Connect with Gretchen on her website and on Instagram at @gdcrowder.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

There are so many access points that might draw you into today's episode with Alyssa Storrs, making this conversation a rich gift to receive and share with those you know.

* If you are a person with dyslexia, an educator, a parent of someone with a learning disability, or you know someone with dyslexia, this episode is a great one to receive and share with others you know. Alyssa is a dyslexia tutor and has much to teach us about this experience and how to honor and esteem those who are learning in this way.

* If you are a spiritual person carrying questions about your faith as well as experiences of race, gender, and identity, wondering where God might be found in any and all of it, this episode is also for you. Alyssa is a trained spiritual director who works specifically with spiritual white folks, helping them untangle and examine their questions and experiences of these things in the context of spiritual direction.

* If you have a chronic illness or disability, this episode is also for you, as Alyssa lives with this reality herself, and she's additionally bearing light on the entrepreneurial experience for those with chronic illnesses and disabilities.

Connect with Alyssa on her website and on Instagram at @alyssa_storrs.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

Renee Ronika Bhatti-Klug lives in Phoenix, Arizona, where she is, through the power of serendipity shaken together with her personal narrative, been making intercultural competence the focus of her life's work.

There is so much in this conversation to love, including:

* How our lives are like stars, seemingly random and yet forming patterns once seen as a whole

* The multiple narratives we carry inside us and the greater fullness of experience and healing that happens through the work of integration

* How a professor's chance reading of a paragraph from Jhumpa Lahiri's book Interpreter of Maladies caused Renee to realize she couldn't forsake a key part of her identity anymore

* How the market crash of 2008 and her first day of teaching on September 11, 2001, indelibly marked the future of Renee's professional life

* The vital connection between emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, self-awareness, and empathy

* The impact this conversation might have on the church

Connect with Renee on her website and on Instagram at @reneeronika.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

Jenny Smith is a United Methodist Church pastor living in the Pacific Northwest who is living what she calls a palms-up life. She's also reimagining church leadership within her denomination by living it out with seven of her colleagues. She's passionate about inclusion, co-visioning with her people, and living in opposition to hustle culture.

In this episode, we discuss:

* How her church has integrated an outward focus with inward transformation

* The relationship between how a leader lives and how a leader leads

* The competition, comparison, and isolation that mark most pastors' lives

* What happened when seven clergy colleagues decided to walk alongside each other using Zoom and the Marco Polo app

* The four phases of the palms-up life and why they matter in today's hustle culture

Connect with Jenny Smith on her website and on Instagram at @jennysmithwrites.

Subscribe to the Light Notes email list or connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

Rebecca Conrow-Bayles lives on the central coast of California, where she works as a speech language pathologist and has named her work of bringing light to the world as "giving voice"—to others, but also to herself. Rebecca believes everyone has something to say and is communicating something. Our world will be a much richer place if those who don't currently have a voice are given a chance to communicate and be heard.

On this episode, we discuss:

* The potential every person who struggles with speech carries inside them

* The greater fullness speech brings to a person's expression in the world

* That there's a time for everything and things happen when they're meant to happen

* The importance of presuming competence in those challenged by speech or other physical limitations

* The superpowers of presence and intimacy that speech therapists carry within them

* What happens when you realize the person who needs to have a voice is you

Connect with Rebecca on her website and on Instagram at @talknmore, @rebeccasbuencamino, or @lucy_paws.

Subscribe to the Light Notes email list or connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.

Sarah Winfrey is a mom of three kids living in Parker, CO. She came on the show to talk about parenting as a way of not only bearing light but raising light—seeing one's children as little lights and one's role as a parent as that of seeing their flame and helping it grow in brightness.

But the reality of parenting today, particularly in America, includes the prevalence of school shootings. What if that happens to you? Can you prepare for it?

This did happen to Sarah and her family in May 2019, and she talks on this episode about that experience and how she's recognized in herself an additional way of bringing light that came in the aftermath of the event, which is helping her children (and herself and others) with post-trauma processing.

Together, we discuss:

* Seeing one's children as one of the huge tasks of parenting

* How to help your children keep their light lit and burning in sustainable ways

* What happens when other people's—especially one's children's—legitimate needs conflict with your own legitimate needs

* What trauma, especially after a school shooting, can look like

* What she'd most like to tell other parents who worry about school shootings

* The importance of talking about these experiences so we all can learn from one another and help heal more effectively

Connect with Sarah on Instagram at @sarahgracewinfrey.

Connect with Christianne on Instagram at @christiannesquires or by subscribing to the Light Notes email list.

And consider applying to be a guest on the show! Fill out the guest application form here.