The father of a friend of mine died recently.  Here’s how it happened:   She was driving home from a board meeting thinking about the finishing touches that she needed to put on a grant.  Her cell phone rang.  It was her brother telling her that her father wasn’t feeling well.  He’d been a bit under the weather.  She rushed to his home.  He was talkative and joking.  A couple of hours later, he had a heart-attack and died surrounded by his children and other family members. 

Over the past few days, a Biblical verse has reportedly topped the google trends charts. It is also turning up in bumper stickers and tee shirts across the country. It reads: “Pray for Obama: Psalm 109:8” But what do you see when you look up that Psalm? “May his days be few; may another take his office.”

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." "Beauty is only skin deep." "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Bartlett's Quotations is full of quotes about beauty. Great words by great poets.This week we'd like to introduce you to another great poet talking about beauty: Stephanie from The NieNie Dialogues is our BlogHer of the Week with her post Do You Still See Me?

The often-dreaded moment arrives. It is Thanksgiving and the family has assembled. Just before the eating begins there is a silence. Grace. Do you say it? Do you not say it? It is Thanksgiving after all, time to give thanks. But who says it, and what do they say? Oh, and whom do they thank? First, if you are a believer, obviously your grace will most likely be said to God. But there may also be others to thank. If you are not a deist, there is still room for gratitude and taking time to say it out loud. It is a soulful gesture, regardless of ones tradition. And it feels good.

I didn't want to write about the Holocaust again. It hurts too much. Surely with so many other things happening in the world, I could just let mention of the 71st anniversary of Kristallnacht pass by unspoken, couldn't I? Just once? Then I read this, reported in the Sacramento Bee about events this week:

Ma Li has only one arm. Zhai Xiaowei has one leg. And below is a video of them dancing. They dance into the holes in people's lives. In the wordlessness of their dance, libraries of the soul open and volumes of unutterable wisdom fly off the shelves. A knowing comes forward. We all know this. We recognize the feeling of brokenness. We know what we do not have, will never have. We know that all the pieces in the world are not whole, not complete. We know that we needed, and that we need.

It's a Saturday Night Live skit waiting to happen, right? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets: A service that promises to care for your pet after you have ascended to heaven to join The Almighty. Like the company's co-founder, Bart Centre, I laughed at first. Surely, this can't be for real. But after speaking with Bart, and a few close friends who believe in the Rapture, I stopped laughing and started thinking.

I was thinking about miracles today -- not the big mamma-jamma miracles of the world, but the little ones. I spent some time appreciating the sweet surprises of meaning, the shock of good news, the offer of help when none is expected, the sympathy or kindness of a stranger. These are all the ordinary miracles of a day, moments when the soul is warmed, when the eyes of the heart open wide. I got an email today from a friend I had not heard from for a long time. Oh, yes, a miracle! So I decided to wander about and see what everyone was saying about life miracles.

The Day of the Dead (El Día de los Muertos ) is a celebration of the deceased which occurs on November 1 and November 2, mostly in Mexico and among Mexican Americans, coinciding with the Roman Catholic celebrations of All Hallows Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day. The origins of this celebration can be traced back to the Aztecs and Mayans as long as 3,000 years ago. Then along came the colonizers.

As Dias de los Muertos approaches, or All Soul’s Day, I'm delighted to have blogger Kara Jones from Mother Henna with us to talk to us about creative ways to address and honor our grief.

At a recent sweat lodge ceremony at a "spiritual warrior" retreat offered by new age guru, James Arthur Ray, a score of people fell ill and were taken to a hospital for treatment and three people have since died. The deaths of James Shore, Kirby Brown and Liz Neuman have raised many questions about James Arthur Ray's business and spiritual practices as well as self-help/new age movements more broadly.

There is one hitch. You have to be a disgruntled Anglican who has left the Episcopal church because you object to either women and/or gay/lesbian people in the priesthood. Then, it is OK if you are already married. Let me explain.