Speaking of Spirit

The Altar for St. Ann  - St. Audoen's Church, Dublin, Ireland - (c) 2014 LMN This past year, I suddenly realized that there wasn't a month that goes by that I don't remember someone in my family who has died.  Some months there are multiple anniversaries to remember. For example, my baby brother, Matt died 9 years and 364 days after my mother. This month, I observed 10 years without Momma being physically present and one year without Matt.  Needless to say, my heart is heavy. Carrying grief is a balancing act. Some of us are able to walk the line without a wobble, others can hardly move, and still others fall into the pits of despair without knowledge of a safety net to catch them. Thing is, any of us can be at any point on this tightrope at any time. When I began this blog post, I was betwixt and between as to whether to post it here or in my writer's blog, Words from the Heart . The purpose of both is to help bring healing, nurturing, and compassion...

Addiction can happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. The latest is media addiction. What's that you might ask?  Media addiction is when we are so attached to our cellphones, tablets, computers that we ignore human contact. We've all seen the pictures of kids in the schoolyard texting each other rather than playing. This is serious stuff.  Media addiction is deadly - it kills our spirits, our creativity and our lives when people text and drive or text/walk. You Tube is filled with videos of people walking into holes, poles and oncoming traffic. I don't find these videos funny; I find them horrifying. So, how do we wean ourselves off of media? As someone who can become as addicted to media as the next person, I work by mindfully tracking my use of "screen time."   I have to use the computer for work, but I make sure I get up, walk around, talk to coworkers and breathe deeply every half hour or so. At home, I do the same thing. I get up, move around, talk to ...

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA This past week, I had the pleasure of filling the pulpit at the Congregational Church in Sunderland.  This is the sermon I gave, which my daughters had asked me to publish. Blessings! We Are All Just Stars...  (c) 2020 Rev. Linda M. Rhinehart Neas Nikita Gill wrote in the poem 93 Percent Stardust, “ We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins,/ carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains./ 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, / we are all just stars that have people names. ”  When I read these words, it struck a chord. I immediately remembered that Carl Sagan said we humans were "made of star stuff," I have loved the image - the idea that something so foreign, so spectacular, so utterly mysterious as a star could be part of who we are.  Since Sagan's commentary, scientists have proven that we are, indeed, made of star dust. The same bits of elements that have hurtled...