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By Melanie Mar Chow
I recently had a new revelation: the word “mind” can be referred to as a noun or a verb. Mind as a noun is most often used in day-to-day conversations in phrases like “are you out of your mind?” or “why did you hurt your friend by saying the first thing that came to mind?” Continue Reading »
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By Chloe Sun
For the past several months, I have been using the book of Psalms in my devotional time. In the past, I tended to dwell on the meaning of each Psalm, contemplating what it meant or how it spoke to me in my current context. This time, as I read the Psalms, I intentionally observed the interconnectedness among the neighboring Psalms and what they meant to their original reader and to me. Continue Reading »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged scriptural reflection | Leave a Comment »
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By Diana Gee
I’m not getting any younger. My body protests with aches and discomfort from sitting too long or from sleeping in an awkward position. I don’t recover from physical activities as quickly as I did a few years ago. And my thoughts don’t seem to come as readily. Granted I have always been slow to formulate an opinion or response. I am one of those people who usually slap themselves with an “I should have said …” epiphany days after an altercation. But learning new things takes a lot more effort now. Aging is a firm reminder that change is happening. For women, that can often feel more like a sentencing instead a cause for celebration. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged deconstruction, seminary education, theology | Leave a Comment »
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By Ajung Sojwal
Solitude is that kind of a mystery where the spiritual experience of it completely defies the textbook definition of it. An encounter with solitude is a good thing, desperately needed even, if we really want to get to the depths of our yearnings. To be able to distinguish solitude from loneliness or isolation has been a long and painful process for me. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged isolation, loneliness | Leave a Comment »
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By Angela Ryo
When I was young, solitude was my worst enemy. I could not stand to be alone with myself for any prolonged period of time because I didn’t really want to get to know who I was. If I wasn’t working, if I wasn’t serving, if I wasn’t relating to others, who was I? Because my sense of identity and self-worth derived from what I did and who I was with, aloneness indicated nothingness. I was afraid of being nothing. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged busyness, parenthood, solidarity | Leave a Comment »
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By Sarah D. Park
I’ve never been good at saying no to people. One drastic way of going about it is to physically remove yourself away from the people who would ask you to do things.
So I moved to Berkeley, California.
For most of my life, I had chosen to make community the driving and deciding factor behind my decisions. Continue Reading »
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By Maria Liu Wong
January was a pretty tough month. It began with a fairly calm, retrospective New Year’s Day with my family. After a festive brunch, we took out last year’s personal and family goals written on strips of paper and kept in a glass jar on the dining room cupboard, a reminder of new beginnings and possibilities. We took turns reading our 2017 goals and considering what was ahead for 2018. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged busyness, raising a family, rest | Leave a Comment »
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By Wendy Choy-Chan
When we think of discipline, an image often comes up of an athlete training day after day for a sport. What we put in is what we get — the more time, the more workout, and the more practice, the better the results and the stronger the athlete. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged spiritual discipline | Leave a Comment »
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By Tina Teng-Henson
For years, my wise younger sister would hear my husband and I plan our trips back East to see beloved family and friends, raise her eyebrows at the ambitious itineraries we’d set, and listen empathetically when a few weeks later, we’d be back to the relational rigor of our lives, no more refreshed than before. Over time, she would ever so gently extol the benefits and attributes of what she would call “a real vacation,” which involved a getaway to some new place, with fresh tastes and unique experiences to be enjoyed, interspersed with downtime and rest — to actually return home refreshed and restored. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged raising a family, vocational discernment, women in ministry | Leave a Comment »
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By Liz Chang
I pay most attention to my breath when it is thrown off its normal pace. I become aware of my breath when I pant to push myself a bit further at the gym, when I hold it as I walk quickly through a smelly sidewalk in the city, when it becomes shallow in an anxiety-provoking moment, and when I take in a deep breath to sigh or yawn. Breathing brings me into the present moment and is a mirror for understanding my mood and mindset. Continue Reading »
Posted in reflections | Tagged self-awareness | Leave a Comment »
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