The season of play, of days that feel endless, of sunshine and curiosity are upon us. Summer is a bustling and transformative season. We've watched the trees bud and flower and now the leaves are offering us shaded relief from the sun, the gardens are in the ground and we are tending them to prepare for a harvest, we've watched butterflies emerge and dandelions seed. Transformation is all around us and it feels expansive, inviting us in.

“The first 1,500 years of church history were characterized by the practice of Lectio Divina. Since many people were illiterate and many that could read didn’t have Bibles, Lectio Divina offered a way of attending to Scripture as it was read in church, with an ear to listening for a word from God. A brief and memorable word or phrase became bread for the soul throughout the week. Devotional reading (Lectio Divina) is not an exercise in mentally critiquing or exegeting the text. It exists to further divine companionship. Lectio Divina invites us into God’s presence to listen for His particular, loving word to me at this particular moment in time.”  - From the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun

Spring is in the air.

I'm not sure if we, as a collective, feel more anticipation for any other season than Spring. After our Winter of snow, cold and darkness, the sunshine that feels warm against our skin, the layers of clothing we shed when we venture outdoors for a walk and the patches of snow melting into large puddles stir in our hearts. Spring is here. The darkness is over. The time has come to open the windows, to let the fresh air in, to linger outside longer and longer and enjoy the steadily increasing moments of sunlight.