Over the past four years, I’ve added a moniker to my biography – “spiritual director,” an old-fashioned term for someone who accompanies another on their journey with God. I’ve noticed recently that I don’t share about this work much. As I’ve pondered why, I’ve realized that the main reason is that my role feels hidden and precious. When people share deep and tender offerings during our sessions, I promise to hold their thoughts and feelings in confidence.* I also don’t name those with whom I meet to my family or friends, nor state on social media that I might know someone in this context. My guarding of their stories has seemed to seep into me not talking about being a spiritual director at all.
Perhaps I’m extra careful about confidentiality because as a writer, I could be tempted to mine the stories I hear. In my introduction letter that I send to people enquiring about working together (although I’m currently fully booked), I state something that should go without saying but I feel needs to be spelled out:
I promise never to write up anything that you talk about during our sessions. God is a God of abundance and for my writing I can find plenty of already-published stories to share.
We don’t have to hold an official role as a spiritual director to prize confidentiality, of course. When a friend or family member shares vulnerably with us, we can treat that confidence as a wrapped gift, one meant to be opened only between them and us. And God can help us to keep our mouths closed, nudging us through the Holy Spirit when we’re tempted to share someone else’s problems or concerns under the banner of intercession or “keeping the body informed.” God is a God of respect and honor, and, being made in his image, we too can exude these qualities.
How important is confidentiality to you?
* I only would share in certain safeguarding situations. Also, when I meet for peer-group supervision or with my own spiritual director, I might give generalized details as I reflect upon the work and how it’s affecting me and my life with God.
What does it mean to be God’s beloved? How do we view God, and how does God see us? We will spend time in the loving presence of God as we explore some spiritual practices that help us live as a new creation in Christ. These transformative encounters help us to live out our callings with joy and freedom.
Join me on Saturday, October 4, for a time of communion with God and others.
About this Retreat Series
From the comfort of your home, join Coracle and me as we encounter God’s loving presence together in an online retreat. Each retreat will include a mixture of gentle teaching with generous spaces to encounter God and unpack your experiences with others. I’ll lead four retreats throughout 2025-26, and you can join one or all four, or any other combination. The timings all fall on a Saturday: 10am to 1pm for the East Coast, 7 to 10am on the West Coast, and 3 to 6pm for the UK.
Jesus with us is God in human form, Emmanuel. This mind-blowing reality has transformed all time, and those who believe in him. As we explore this mystical and down-to-earth truth of the God who became a baby and lived among us, we embrace his presence with us as we also prepare for his second coming.
February 21, 2026 – Friendship with God
Jesus loved his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and their home in Bethany was his second home. As we unpack the three gospel stories we explore action and contemplation, faith and doubt, despair and longing, resurrection and hope, sacrificial love and the meaning of home. Deepening our friendship with Jesus through these stories is fitting during Lent as their events pave the way for Jesus’ death and resurrection.
June 6, 2026 – 3 ways to pray
Our prayer lives can be rich and multifaceted. We’ll engage with three ways to pray, each rooted in ancient practices, that can give us fresh pathways to God. They are acknowledging the indwelling God through practicing God’s presence, prayerfully placing ourselves into a gospel story through our imaginations, and the prayer of examen. God loves to meet with us as we come to him.
Coracle is a U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, supported by donor funding. We offer the majority of our programs as “By Donation” as we believe that finances should never be a barrier to anyone who wants to pursue God through the programs and resources we offer. There will be an option to select either “paid” or “free” tickets. Donor support makes offerings like these possible. If you feel led to invest in Coracle’s ministry above the cost of this offering, there will be an option to do so when you register. Thank you!.
Did you know that Jane Austen was a devoted Christian? We have access to three of her prayers – those when she led the family prayers at night. Join me at Jane’s home in Chawton, Hampshire, England, with an adaptation of one of her inspiring and uplifting prayers. The images are all from the grounds at her final beloved home, where she was able to be most fruitful in her writing.
You can find the three prayers in their original form here.
On this International Friendship Day, Icelebrate friendship by sharing a poem that was a gift for my birthday by a dear friend, Amy Scott Robinson. Amy and I and Tanya Marlow have met weekly for years, loving and supporting each other, and I frankly don’t know how I would do life without them! I loved receiving this gorgeous creation for my birthday, and I trust and pray that you will enjoy it as much as I do. (Sorry about the background noise – we were in a busy London restaurant!)
Friendship is a gift from God, and our friendship with God is a gift that I wrote about in Transforming Love: How Friendship with Jesus Changes Us. Our friendship with Jesus strengthens our friendships with others. Something to celebrate, to be sure!
Join me in watching the video:
Explore friendship with Jesus in Transforming Love. Find it – including a free copy of the introduction and first chapter – here.
It’s the Easter season! We’re in the time in the church calendar marked off for celebration – after all, Jesus is risen and lives!
Mind, I’ve not felt very celebratory. Both Nicholas and I came down with covid on Easter Sunday, and I’ve only left the house a few times since. The virus left with me fatigue, although I’m gaining in strength each day and managed a gentle pilates workout yesterday. So although I’ve not celebrated much, I’ve been aware of this season set aside to give thanks, to wonder, to delight. Sometimes that’s how we have to celebrate – while acknowledging the pain we’re also in.
And how do we do so? With the presence of the risen Christ, of Jesus with us. I love this photo that Janet Nielson took, which I share with her permission. She was one of the pilgrims to Iona on the wonderful McCabe Pilgrimages trip at the beginning of April I got to lead. To me this photo reeks of the glory of God in our midst… it’s almost like I can see Jesus’ outline in the light.
How might you celebrate today? Through gritted teeth or not…
As we approach Holy Week next week, the culmination of the season of Lent, we can be gentle to ourselves, however we’re feeling, whether tired, weary, hopeful, or perhaps wishing that we’d kept more rigorously to the practices we chose at the start. Whatever has gone before us, know that God welcomes us to journey with Jesus in the here and now. God’s loving invitation to deepen our faith during this holy week stands.
One way to approach this week is to consider what Jesus experienced each day of his life that week. To help imagine what was happening at various moments, I invite you to download an outline of the events, which I’ve adapted from the NIV Application Commentary: Matthew by Michael J. Wilkins (Zondervan, 2004), pp. 709–10.
I also invite you to join me on Tuesday for a half-hour of prayer via zoom as I lead an engagement with Jesus’ journey via Coracle’s Space for God. More information here.
Lord Jesus Christ, as we enter into the events of this Holy Week, I come to you in humility, confessing my wrongdoing and receiving your forgiveness. May the events of this last week of your life be brought alive to me, that I might know you more intimately and be more grateful for your sacrifice, which gives me life. I join the crowds to shout out with joy, “Hosanna to the King of kings! Blessed are you who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
I loved co-leading a “Poetry and Prayer” retreat with Amy Scott Robinson recently at Launde Abbey, learning from Amy as she helped us to explore different forms of poetry. One of those is the biblical poetic form of the refrain, which is a wonderful way to express ourselves to God. And it’s easy to write one; I promise!
As Amy shared, what’s so wonderful about the poetry in the Psalms (ancient Hebrew poetry) is that it doesn’t depend on patterns and rhythms of words, but patterns and rhythms of ideas. It uses synonyms and antonyms, metaphors and refrains, all of which we can see in translation. Isn’t that amazing! We who aren’t able to read Hebrew don’t miss out.
A form of poetry in the Psalms is refrain—a repeated line or phrase that adds emphasis and rhythm in a poem or prayer:
Psalm 136 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
Here’s a refrain that I wrote while on the retreat with Amy (and thus I did it in a short space of time). I hope you see how the repeating of lines helps us to consider again the idea – maybe it helps us move more from the head to the heart?
From Job 1:21
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When sorrow strikes at the season’s end: A call to obey and relinquish… The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
From a distance I see new gifts to welcome while bidding the familiar farewell. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When I led this prayer exercise recently for Coracle’s Space for God (which happens regularly on a Tuesday), I was delighted with some of the refrains shared at the end of our time together. Here’s one from Jamie:
Identity
You are all fair, my love There is no spot in you.
Created with intention and beauty I see the goodness of God in you You are all fair, my love
Washed clean and made new Clothed in Christ’s righteousness. There is no spot in you
You are all fair, my love There is no spot in you
And here is one by Jerry Herbert, who was one of my teachers some years ago (!) on the American Studies Program in Washington, DC:
Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path
Your Word is a lamp to my feet A guide in the midst of confusion A help when all is chaos
And a light to my path A spectacle when all is obscure A knife to slice thru the darkness
Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path
I’d love to invite you to write a refrain! Here’s how:
Take 2 lines of scripture (or a line in two parts)
State them
Separate them with your own lines of context and interpretation
Bring them together again
Suggestions for verses:
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105)
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you (Numbers 6:24-26)
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit (Jonah 2:6)
I love personalizing Psalm 23, and last week led this exercise at Launde Abbey – with these sheep in the background! Here’s the rendition I penned, which you might resonate with?
The Lord is my rest giver, I embrace shalom. He makes me release my projects, he leads me to the restoring waters, he refreshes my soul and my body. He helps me clear my diary for my own good. Even though I trudge through the valley of overcommitment, I will not fret, for you are with me; your tools to say no, they help me. You prepare a feast before me with those whom I’ve disappointed. You shower me with your unfailing love; my heart overflows. Surely your gentle invitations will accompany me all the days of my life, and I’ll live with you forever.
How might you apply this beloved Psalm in your life today?
Join me on the shores of the island of Iona as we stop and notice God’s presence with us. In a four-minute video, I invite you to affirm the amazing truth that if we welcome Jesus in our lives, Christ is with us.
Books of 2024. In the last year, I read almost half as many books as I usually do. As I consider why, I can see that I was too overcommitted, and for relaxing I turned to stories via the animated screen rather than the book. My-one-word for the year was “reset,” but it seems I didn’t live into that word enough.
I continue to enjoy audiobooks, although I can’t seem to retain the content of deep non-fiction books through listening, so I tend to leave audiobooks for novels and memoirs. I especially appreciate memoirs narrated by the author, and books narrated by wonderful actors such as Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks (two by Ann Patchett, for instance).
This year I give you a memoir by a contemporary Christian writer, some deep but accessible theology, a modern classic novel, and two fun novels.
A Compelling Memoir
It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping by Lisa-Jo Baker
What a book! In this memoir Lisa-Jo weaves together her life on two continents – her native South African and her adopted United States – with depth, yearning, pain, learning and ultimately love. A central part of her story is the early death of her mother coupled with the way her father parented her. She’s unstinting in her descriptions of the pain of that relationship, but she also shares their redemptive journey, which will give hope to any reader who has suffered from painful parental relationships. There is hope of healing.
I loved how she wove in the various native languages into her prose, which shines with truth, beauty, and meaning. This book is a labor of love, with the craftsmanship evident in the writing. A deserving 5 stars.
Deep but Accessible Theology
A Crazy, Holy Grace The Healing Power of Pain and Memory by Frederick Buechner
I so so appreciated listening to this series of essays, some more powerful than others. The ones on grace and pain and suffering and God’s love I will listen to again while jotting down notes – this is my bane as a visual, not auditory, learner! I was captured by one of his stories about his eldest daughter suffering from an illness that nearly killed her, and how he receive an unexpected visit from a friend who flew more than eight hundred miles in the hopes of finding find him at home. Frederick was indeed home, and their time together was transformative. An example of embodied love. As Frederick reflected later, “I was moved to the very soles of my feet by that experience, and so was he…” It was “a blessed event, a holy event.”
A Modern Classic Novel
The Blessing by Nancy Mitford
A novel by Nancy Mitford that I hadn’t read before… I picked up a used copy at one of the Tattered Cover bookstores in Colorado (not THE one in Denver, but still, a fun experience) and it felt right to read it after we left Paris and landed in the south of France (as it’s set in both locales and in England).
It’s very Nancy Mitford, which is of course what I wanted, but that means it’s a product of its time and I wasn’t going to judge it on modern standards. Full of fun and quips and characters I was rooting for. A perfect holiday read.
Two Fun Novels
Tom Lake by Ann Patchell
Oh I enjoyed listening to this novel, narrated by Meryl Streep. She brought such life and joy to the story. Having holidayed in Michigan in recent years, I enjoyed picturing the cherry trees and the family who was harvesting them during the pandemic, forced together in a time of social distancing.
The story is a looking back by the mother as she recalls her acting career and what brought her to Michigan and the life of a cherry farmer. Her love for her husband and their three grown daughters is evident. Fully enjoyable. I didn’t want it to end.
The Mystery Guest by Nita Prose
I was excited for this follow up to her first novel with Molly the Maid, who loves working at the posh hotel after her grandmother died, and who solved a mystery killing. This one was another light mystery that she solved in her inimitable way. Fully enjoyable listen.
Please read and buy my books! And if you do, please write a review on Goodreads or Amazon or some other online source. And please support your books-and mortar bookstore. They are havens of fabulousness that won’t survive if we only buy online.
