Today’s Reflection Participating in the creative act helps us to see ourselves as we are and as we might become. Like prayer, the creative act draws us into the authentic life that awaits us and into our fulfillment in God. Creativity, an essential tool for shaping the soul, provides a pathway to the fierce truth of our life. Those traveling the spiritual road who yearn for the healing of life’s deepest hurts, the fulfillment of immeasurable longings,or the profound peace fou

Today’s Reflection Celtic Christians acknowledged God’s presence in every aspect of living—from waking to sleeping, from birth to death, from mundane chores to momentous celebrations. . . . Gratitude characterized their way of being as they affirmed the source of life and gave thanks through blessings. —Beth A. Richardson, Christ Beside Me, Christ Within Me: Celtic Blessings (Upper Room Books, 2016) Today’s Question What ordinary things or mundane chores are in your life tod

Today’s Reflection Even simple tasks we perform for our pets, such as brushing their fur or grooming them, can become a spiritual practice and a calming ritual—one that soothes both the pet and the person. —Betsy Singleton Snyder & Gayle McKuin Fiser,  New Tricks: How Pet Ministry Can Transform Faith Communities and Change Lives  (Upper Room Books 2025) Today’s Question How can you turn a task you do for your pet into a spiritual practice? Join the conversation . Today’s Scri

Today’s Reflection One of the spiritual practices I have come to love is the practice of Examen, or a prayerful examination of the day. The practice comes from Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a sixteenth-century mystic and the founder of the Jesuit order of priests. He believed this form of prayer to be one of the most important, and he saw it as a gift of God to be practiced regularly. . . . In this prayer practice, you focus and reflect on the awareness of God’s presence througho

Today’s Reflection I bet we all said this prayer as children: “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” While I understand the sentiment, there’s something about ending the day focused on death that unsettles me. I want my kids to rest well, assured that their futures in heaven are safe and secure because of the work of Jesus on the cross and his invitation of love in their lives. I’d rather they bo

Today’s Reflection Creativity is so much more than art making. It is a tool for navigating through everyday experiences to find the sacred in each God-given moment. Those who believe they lack creativity have relegated it to remote regions of their life, burying it under the need for security, approval, and control. However, like love, which is stronger than death, creativity does not die; it simply waits to be unearthed and set free. —Karla M. Kincannon, Creativity and Divin

Today’s Reflection We [the authors] still believe that what mattered to teenagers twenty or fifty or a hundred years ago matters to teenagers today, even if they use different language and technologies to express and meet those needs. Imagine, for instance, an “average” American teenaged girl (who is likely named Emily, according to the Social Security Administration’s records on Gen Z). Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an average day in Emily’s life included over five and a hal

Today’s Reflection God is love, only love, and God’s Spirit is the Spirit of love longing to relate to us and to guide us to the place where the deepest desires of our heart can be fulfilled. —Henri J. M. Nouwen,  A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question Do your deepest desires align with God’s desires? Today’s Scripture For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the

Today’s Reflection In our willingness to accept that we are unable to control the inevitable, and that we ourselves will also surely die, we become liberated to be true caregivers—people who are not primarily trying to cure but rather to care in the deepest sense of that word. —Henri J. M. Nouwen,  A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question How can accepting the inevitability of death help you be a better caregiver? Joi

Today’s Reflection Unless we realize that God’s blessing is coming to us from those we want to serve, our help will be short-lived, and eventually we may feel burned out. —Henri J. M. Nouwen, A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question How have you been blessed by someone you tried to help? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture He looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the ki

Today’s Reflection I am convinced that caring for others who are weak or close to death is to support them in fulfilling their deepest vocation, the vocation of becoming more and more fully what they already are: beloved daughters and beloved sons of God. —Henri J. M. Nouwen, A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question How might a person close to death be more fully beloved by God? Join the conversation . Today’s Scriptu

Today’s Reflection Compassion can never coexist with judgment because judgment creates distance and distinction, which prevents us from really being with the other. —Henri J. M. Nouwen,  A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question How has judgment hurt you or created distance in a relationship? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For the judgment you give will be the jud

Today’s Reflection To care is to cry out with those who are ill, confused, lonely, isolated, and forgotten, and to recognize their pains in our own heart. To care is to enter into the world of those who are broken and powerless and to establish there a fellowship of the weak. —Henri J. M. Nouwen,  A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question Contigo means “with you” in Spanish. How can simply being with someone during a

Today’s Reflection Before we are caregivers, we are beloved children of God. As we come to claim this identity, we begin to see more and more that all others in our human family are also unconditionally cherished by our loving Creator. —Henri J. M. Nouwen, A Spirituality of Caregiving , edited by John S. Mogabgab (Upper Room Books, 2011) Today’s Question How does knowing God’s love for others change your attitude toward them? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture I have l

Today’s Reflection Fear stops our ears from hearing God’s voice, blinds us to the grace in front of us, and robs us of this present moment. Yet God consistently works to free us. —Amy Oden, “ Free For Abundant Life,” in The Upper Room Disciplines 2026 (Upper Room Books, 2025) Today’s Question Which of your fears does God most want you to release? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians

Today’s Reflection Yes, suffering and struggle can put up walls and barriers to seeing the fruit of God’s labor around us, but no matter how bad it is in the world and in our own souls, that suffering is not entitled to access and diminish our hope. —Bruce Reyes-Chow, “ Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet,” in The Upper Room Disciplines 2026 (Upper Room Books, 2025) Today’s Question What fruits of God’s labor can you already see in your life? Join the conversation . Today’s Scrip

Today’s Reflection Loss often leads us into the wilderness; letting go of what we have lost allows us to rely on God to lead us through and out on the other side. We are forced to see ourselves and everything around us differently, to let die what was so that something new might emerge. —Caroline Vogel, “ In the Gap,” in   The Upper Room Disciplines 2026  (Upper Room Books, 2025) Today’s Question What do you need to let go of for God to do something new in you? Join the conv

Today’s Reflection Sometimes we can only wait in hope on the provision of a holy energy that seems beyond our own to give us the lift for which we hunger. —Susan Carol Scott, Still Praying After All These Years: Meditations for Later Life (Upper Room Books, 2019) Today’s Question When have you sensed a need for the divine provision of strength beyond your known resources? How did that provision come? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture He gives power to the faint,and s

Today’s Reflection The quality of our days can be shaped beneficially by how we respond to failure and loss. Some of God’s best work in...

Today’s Reflection Changes activate our curiosity about how God may be at work in our circumstances. Changes also challenge us to become...