The Daily Edify

Today's episode is about a concept from Howard Thurman called "the sound of the genuine" - something we can listen for in ourselves and in others. Thurman was a towering figure in the 20th century, but it not as well-known as other civil rights leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr. (to whom he was a mentor). He was a theologian, philosopher, mystic, pastor and chaplain.

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode, released on March 17, is a nod to St. Patrick and his lesser-known breastplate prayer.

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the recent book by Ed Yong, "An Immense World: How Animals Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms All Around Us.” Yong is a Pulitzer-Prize winning writer at the Atlantic.

In this book, he opens our eyes to the immensity of the world around us. Each creature has an Umwelt, a "sensory bubble" or slice of reality we can perceive, but with that we also have the illusion that we're perceiving all of reality. But we're actually not. We can't hear ultrasonic calls like a whale, or sense infrared radiation like a rattlesnake, or pick up magnetic fields like a robin. We human beings have our specific Umwelt, just as our dogs do (hearing and smelling things we cannot). This is humbling and fascinating stuff!

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the idea that everyone and everything in our life can be our teacher.

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the book of Esther, the fifth and final installment in our "Forgotten Books of the Bible" series. 

The book is about Esther’s remarkable courage in the face of Haman's plot to destroy the Jewish people. The most famous line of the book comes in chapter 4, when Mordecai (Esther’s cousin, who becomes her guardian) tells her that perhaps it’s for “such a time as this” that she have become queen and joined the royal family, so that she can save the people from destruction.

Esther is read every year at the festival of Purim, which just happened earlier this week (March 6-7) - and continues to speak today against anti-Semitism and all forms of hate.

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a little gem of a poem a friend recently shared with me - "The Most Important Thing," by Julia Fehrenbacher. It's a gentle, winsome invitation to create a home within ourselves, "a shelter of kindness that grows all the truest things." 

I wonder if you're finding space in your days to do this holy work of creating "a shelter of kindness" within yourself?  Far from indulgent, it nurtures self-compassion and allows us to love others not just today, but for the long haul. 

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about seasons. Not so much the weather kind, but the personal and communal seasons of our lives.

I share four pieces of wisdom I've learned over the years: (1) we don't control when seasons begin or end; (2) liminal seasons are hard, those times in-between seasons ; (3) seasons don't last forever; and (4) God's love is with us in all the seasons of our lives, and there is a sacred gift in each one of them. 

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about a recent book by MaryAnn McKibben Dana, "Hope: A User's Manual." I found it to be so resonant that we picked as our theme for the season of Lent at the church I serve. It's a nuanced and thoughtful take on hope, replete with practical suggestions.

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about the book of Ecclesiastes, one of my favorite books of the Bible for its candor, subversiveness and wisdom. This is the fourth installment in our "Forgotten Books of the Bible" series (previous episodes covered Song of Songs, Ruth, and Lamentations).

The main insight we'll unpack is that Ecclesiastes teaches us that since life is fleeting, we should enjoy the moments we are given. Love the people we love. Enjoy the work we do. Eat good food and drink good wine. Savor even the stupid little pointless moments, because that is your “share” in life. It is all a gift.

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!

Today's episode is about friendship, a spiritual practice that we sometimes neglect to our detriment. Friendship makes us human. It involves giving and receiving, mutual trust, and is crucial to our well-being. In this podcast, we touch on some wisdom on friendship from Jesus, Aristotle, Dana Robert and John O'Donohue. 

Here's the "Friendship Blessing" by O'Donohue that I read at the end of the podcast, from his book, "Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom."

"May you be blessed with good friends. May you learn to be a good friend to yourself. May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness. May this change you. May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in you. May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship, and affinity of belonging. May you treasure your friends. May you be good to them and may you be there for them; may they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth, and light that you need for your journey. May you never be isolated. May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam ċara.” 

Feedback? I'd love to hear from you at [email protected]. Thanks for listening, friends. You are loved and never alone!