The Writer's Contemplation.

Drawing peace from the monastic experience,

pouring stillness on the pages of life’s story.

“Be still and know...” Psalm 46:10

“...be transformed…” Romans 12:2

“Peace be with you.” Luke 24:36

In my quest for peace and stillness, I will travel to a center for contemplative study, a prison ministry that teaches contemplative prayer practice, a Franciscan monastery, and a Buddhist retreat. There, I will learn to quiet my mind, make space in my spirit, and write from the source of my soul.

Two weeks ago, I was notified of a blessing, that I was awarded the 2021 Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship. This is an annual grant that allows Indiana educators the opportunity to pursue independent summer projects of their own design. Educators write proposals explaining how they plan to commit time to renew themselves so they can return to the classroom rejuvenated and recommitted to their profession and their students. It is a generous program that annually supports hundreds of Indiana educators. In the past, several Brown County educators have been selected. This year my application was selected, and I am truly grateful to the Lilly Endowment and to my many colleagues who have supported me in my pursuit of this Fellowship through the years.

One thing that makes this award special to me is that this is my twentieth application. For two decades, I have planned projects, sent off proposals, waited. And for two decades I received the annual “thank you for your application, however…” letter of rejection. As a parent, teacher, coach, and chaplain, I have often shared the advice to “hang in there.” I have shared that successes comes to those who “show up and keep showing up.” And to anyone reading these words, I offer the same advice.

If my nineteen rejection letters have taught me anything, it is the discipline to hang in there. Show up and keep showing up. Dream big, but consistently do the daily work. Be patient, embrace the process, and in all things, be grateful. We are all seeking joy and peace in life. We all cling to hope. I know this project does not define me and is certainly but a microcosm of my approach toward life, but it has truly taught me peace, patience, and presence. I plan to use these lessons this summer as I write and spend time in daily silence, stillness, and contemplation. These practices are already a regular part of my daily rituals, but this project will allow me to focus even more deeply on this mission and help me amplify the message in my life. This project will help teach me to more fully be still, be transformed, and be at peace. I’ve learned a lot in this twenty year journey, and I know that every day, it’s only just beginning. Again and again. Moment to moment. I am drawing peace, and I hope I can continue to pour stillness on the pages of my life's story. This is my hope, my gift, and my contemplation.

For those of you who are interested, what follows is the action plan of my summer project.

I have selected four destinations for my project. Each location serves a specific purpose in my summer sojourn to help me draw peace and pour stillness in my life as I prepare to share peace and stillness with those in my life.

First, I will travel to the Center for Action and Contemplation in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This is a center started by Franciscan Friar Richard Rohr, a leader in contemplative study. I will be staying off campus, but I will visit the Center each day. There I will follow the center’s “prayer path” and participate in the daily “morning sit” meditations. Before arriving, I plan to complete the online course, “The Franciscan Way” taught by Richard Rohr in preparation for this visit.

Next, I will travel to the Prison Contemplative Fellowship Headquarters in Folsom, California. I have been invited by the founder and leader, Ray Leonardini, to visit and learn their practices of teaching contemplative prayer to inmates. I greatly look forward to this as I learn to incorporate their practices in our local jail. Ray has already been a great mentor, remotely providing me support and with copies of his books for our leaders and inmates. I look forward to meeting with and learning from him in person.

My next destination is the St. Francis Retreat in San Juan Bautista, California. Visitors are greeted to the retreat with the statement “And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a while.’ ~ Jesus.” What a beautiful welcome to a seventy-three acre facility designed for guests to spend time for God making time to nurture their spiritual lives in an environment away from the distractions of life. We all need to take time for solitude with God, to draw in nourishment, to feed our souls. Spending time here in prayer, contemplation, and writing will fill me and teach me to pour out peace and stillness in daily moments of my life. After I leave the retreat, I will spend three days driving the coast, enjoying the beauty and grandeur of nature.

My final summer destination is the Deer Park Monastery in Escondido, California. Deer Park is a four hundred acre sanctuary established by Buddhist Teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh. Here, I will spend nine days resting, sharing in the practice of mindful living, and writing. This location will be a key component as I intentionally seek to learn and incorporate practices to help me be truly alive and present with those around me. Our days are filled with moments that desire our awareness. Time at this monastery will help me practice presence in a meaningful way that will have effects lasting a lifetime. The summer portion of this project will conclude with the Deer Park Monastery visit.

In the fall, I will participate in the culminating event for this project, a return visit to the Center for Action and Contemplation in September for their annual “CONSPIRE 2021” conference. This is an event designed to help attendees “discover your place in the emerging contemplative community of people committed to the intentional work of personal transformation, embodied practice, and engaged living.”

I cannot simply talk about living intentionally, I have to live it. I have been longing for this touch on my spiritual life for decades. In these short, six weeks, I anticipate a transformative personal restoration to take place. I will be filled and overflowing with peace and stillness. I seek this experience for myself and for those around me. I seek to live life and write at another level, day by day, and moment by moment.

God Bless.

Grace and peace.