Heather Caliri didn't think she was the artist of her family, but then a journey of self-discovery and prayerful introspection developed a deeper awareness of God's presence in her creative work. She is currently helping others go on similar journeys of healing and growth, while nurturing the healing of artistic projects. If you don't think creativity has a place in your life or if you want to find more room for the restoration of creative pursuits, Heather is a reliable guide. Learn more about her creative work at www.heathercaliri.com and her course at https://www.heathercaliri.com/dignity. 

Making space for prayer, creativity, family, and service to others requires significant boundaries from digital distractions. Yet, setting up those boundaries and using them well often results in failures, changes in plans, and then more failures. It's never too late to reclaim our attention and to pursue our relationships offline in ways that don't rely on social media, but we need to be willing to fail and then try again. 

There's a lot of pressure to be productive or to make progress with our time. Even in the case of spiritual practices, we can feel tempted to seek results. If we don't see the results right away, our time in prayer may feel like a waste. But "waste" is really a terrible word for the steps in our longer term process of growth.

Sometimes the practices that can feel wasteful or unproductive can give us the space we need to be far more present and at peace for everything else we do. Sometimes we need "waste" in order to more forward. 

The urgency of our current moment can fuel a constant tension and alertness about the next crisis. I know what it feels like to live with an awareness that something big and important, and potentially bad, could happen at any moment. Plenty of big challenges remain and our engagement will be needed, but for the sake of our mental health and spiritual vitality, crisis mode won’t serve us well for the long term.

This episode asks how we can develop more sustainable boundaries and practices during our difficult times where one crisis seems to compound another. 

This week I'm sharing a short podcast based on my latest blog post about how we evaluate the trustworthiness of our spiritual leaders. What if we are using the wrong criteria? Based on the many popular Christian leaders who have had scandals, we have a lot of work to do. 

Too many well-meaning leaders have been crushed by the entrepreneurial, corporate-influenced model of pastoral leadership in America. Far, far too many church attending Christians have been burned by abusive leadership systems and toxic church cultures.

If we have this many prominent names leading double lives, deceiving their congregations and readers, and perpetrating horrible abuse to the most vulnerable, it’s time to start second-guessing our judgment when it comes to our spiritual leaders in the American church.

At the very least, we need leaders who show evidence of a deep inner life of prayer, a message of dependance on God rather than working toward specific moral outcomes, a capacity to recognize their limits, and a willingness to even give up the power and influence that is so readily given to them.

When a spiritual leader’s popularity and influence increases, so should our scrutiny and our caution toward them.

The highs and lows each week often include disturbing news stories or social media posts that leave us concerned about the bad behavior of others. Since social media naturally amplifies agitating content, it's no wonder that the worst behavior is often gaining the most attention. Can we take some time this week to step away from the fear-inducing content in the news and on social media? Can we grow our awareness of God's love today, remembering that God made the first step toward us? 

It feels like the problems we face are only growing more complex during the pandemic. As we feel the weight of so many things piling up, some simple prayers may be what we need the most right now. Using Thomas Merton's book Contemplative Prayer as a jumping off point, I share a few simple prayer words and practices that I've found to be helpful as the complexities of our world only seem to increase. 

Control is a complicated word. I have a love hate relationship with it. Control is a source of anxiety and conflict many times when it comes to other people. Yet, self-control is a vital spiritual discipline. What does a healthier relationship with "control" look like for people of faith who are saturated with news about events that appear threatening or troubling yet far beyond our control? 

In this brief solo episode, Ed Cyzewski, author of Reconnect: Spiritual Restoration from Digital Distraction, asks whether we've started to expect the worst because of our traumatic past four years. How can we remain engaged in the important issues of our time, such as poverty, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic while also giving ourselves space to be hopeful?  

After the alarming insurrection at the Capitol building in America, how can we reset our thoughts and regain a sense of mental grounding and spiritual balance? This week's episode offers a few strategies for facing a difficult moment, such as a disruptive national crisis, and offers some next steps--that is, besides not voting for people in the future who will cause a national crisis!