A Slow Return

It's been a good long time since I've updated this blog. Work, school, and life have consumed most (really all!) of my time the past two years, and after a long while, I finally feel like writing again. A couple of updates, I am now also publishing a weekly column with UPI's Religion and Spirituality on-line forum. I have been writing about international ethics on that site, so I think I will keep this blog more directly spiritual.

Also, I will be teaching a course on religion and peacebuilding this fall and am very excited to bring my practical knowledge of conflict studies together with my spiritual training. Returning to this blog is one way of extending that training -- just as I am putting in miles each week as I prepare to run a marathon this fall, so do I need to put in time in focused spiritual reflection.

There are a few relationships out there that are like a cactus; we can ignore them and they still (miraculously) stay alive. Our relationship with our spiritual self is like that -- it can survive on virtually nothing. But there is a difference between existing and living. To live a full spiritual life, we must nurture our relationship with the divine. We must tend to it, dote on it, and cherish it.

It is the core of who we are. It is the kernel of who we can become.

I have learned a lot these past two years, but in a very real sense, I was constrained in my existence. All my energy was invested into work and school. I am glad I have made that investment and am eager to continue when classes resume this fall, but life's call is growing stronger. I am glad to return.