Today’s Reflection Even the worst experiences can teach us about eternal love and draw us toward God’s purposes. . . .God is at work preparing us and “preparing the way” before we even realize there’s a journey to be made. —Mary Lou Redding, While We Wait: Living the Questions of Advent (Upper Room Books, 2002) Today’s Question What have some of your worst experiences taught you about God’s love? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture We know that in all things God works

Today’s Reflection God welcomes us with whatever degree and quality of hope possible for us. Even if the hope is simply an inexpressible desire for something more, it has power, and its power grows as we nurture the hope in God’s presence. —Mary Lou Redding, While We Wait: Living the Questions of Advent (Upper Room Books, 2002) Today’s Question What do you hope for this Advent? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture You, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my yout

Today’s Reflection Daily reading and reflection enrich our attending to God during Advent. . . .The small amount of time it takes can be a gift to ourselves and to God as we record our insights and explore what God may be saying to us. —Mary Lou Redding, While We Wait: Living the Questions of Advent (Upper Room Books, 2002) Today’s Question When have you given yourself the gift of quiet moments to reflect during Advent? How could you plan to set aside time for reflection thi

Today’s Reflection For the light imparted to the soul is a most lofty divine light that transcends all natural light and does not belong naturally to intellect. —St. John of the Cross, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of John of the Cross , Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe (Upper Room Books, 2017) Today’s Question If intellect does not bear God’s divine light, what does? How can you bear God’s light in the world? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture You are th

Today’s Reflection Allow the soul to remain in rest and quietude even though it may seem obvious to them that they are doing nothing and wasting time. . . . Be content simply with a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God. —St. John of the Cross, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of John of the Cross , Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe (Upper Room Books, 2017) Today’s Question How often do you “waste time” with God? How has it born fruit in your life? Join the conve

Today’s Reflection Let them trust in God who does not fail those who seek him with a simple and righteous heart; nor will he fail to impart what is needful for the way until getting them to the clear and pure light of love. —St. John of the Cross, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of John of the Cross , Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe (Upper Room Books, 2017) Today’s Question Have you ever searched for your own faith in God? What is one practice you can do to reach

Today’s Reflection God does not communicate through the senses as before, by means of the discursive analysis and synthesis of ideas, but begins to communicate through pure spirit by an act of simple contemplation. —St. John of the Cross, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of John of the Cross , Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe (Upper Room Books, 2017) Today’s Question How have you heard the Spirit of God speak to you in the past? How can you listen for the voice of

Today’s Reflection [Jesus] saw eternal life as a wholeness, a continuum with no dividing categories. He knew eternal life was the unbroken relationship with God on this side of death and on the other. It is the eternal now. —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question How will you live your life anew, starting now? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alp

Today’s Reflection To prepare for death is not meant to be a grim, stoic march to the disintegration of the grave. I believe God means it to be an adventure of entering into the mystery and power of a new life. —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question How will you prepare for death, knowing that it is a transition into new life? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture Jesus said to her, “I am th

Today’s Reflection To understand the nature of this union [with God], one should first know that God sustains every soul and dwells in it substantially, even though it may be that of the greatest sinner in the world. —St. John of the Cross, The Upper Room Spiritual Classics: Writings of John of the Cross , Edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe (Upper Room Books, 2017) Today’s Question Who is the worst person in your life? How should you treat them, knowing that God is the one who

Today’s Reflection Forever we commune with one another. Loving awareness still flows from the saints to us and from us to them. How could God, who is love, ordain it otherwise? —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question What is it like knowing your loved ones who have passed are still with you? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with h

Today’s Reflection [Jesus] knew that the hellish state of mind can and does exist in this life and can exist beyond death. But nowhere does he teach that any individual soul is forced, doomed to stay in that condition for all eternity. —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question Do you ever worry that you or a loved one may turn up in hell? How does God’s all-embracing compassion change that narrativ

Today’s Reflection Even when we reach the dimensions of the highest angels, God will love us not one whit more than God loves us now. The only change is that we become more aware of God’s love already embracing us and more able to respond to that love. —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question What would it be like to feel just how much God loves you? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture And i

Today’s Reflection Jesus believed in immediate resurrection after death or he would not have promised the dying man on the cross next to him that they would be in Paradise together that very day. —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question Is there someone you know in paradise? How does it feel knowing they are there? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you

Today’s Reflection What deep inner conflict often exists between the formal teachings of our creeds and what we are actually feeling! We take the words we hear “on faith,” without truly thinking about them. —Flora Slosson Wuellner, Beyond Death: What Jesus Revealed about Eternal Life (Upper Room Books, 2014) Today’s Question What doubts do you have about eternal life? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were no

Today’s Reflection Clearly God does not want us to ignore our longings, push them aside, or put them to death. Indeed, the exact opposite is true. God wants us to listen to the desires of our hearts, to befriend them, to understand them. —Trevor Hudson, Questions God Asks Us (Upper Room Books 2008) Today’s Question What spiritual practice helps you honestly tell God about your desires? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture In the path of your judgments,O LORD, we wait fo

Due to limitations, this post is offered late in the day! Apologies Today’s Reflection Stopping for a while enables us to recognize more clearly those destructive patterns of living that push our lives beyond their God-given limits and then to make clear choices to live in a more healthy and life-giving way. —Trevor Hudson, Questions God Asks Us (Upper Room Books 2008) Today’s Question When was the last time you stopped to consider your God-given limits and to choose a heal

Today’s Reflection Thank God for your ability; commit yourself to develop it further and to employ it in the service of others. When we use whatever is in our hand with courage and compassion, we begin to contribute toward the building of a better world for all! —Trevor Hudson, Questions God Asks Us (Upper Room Books 2008) Today’s Question What ability has God given you to contribute toward building a better world? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture Instead, we are Go

Today’s Reflection We all carry a light within us, a light God has placed in us when we were made in God’s image. This light illuminates and warms our path like a fire through our days. It is our task to keep this light shining. —Cláudio Carvalhaes, Light from Afar: An Advent Devotional from Around the World (Upper Room Books, 2023) Today’s Question What is the “light” that you have to share with the world? How do you share God’s light with others? Join the conversation . To

Today’s Reflection Darkness isn’t something that exists, but simply a phenomenon used to describe the absence of something. Unlike light, . . . [darkness] is simply the absence of light. —Joel Bengbeng, Light from Afar: An Advent Devotional from Around the World (Upper Room Books, 2023) Today’s Question How can the light of Christ not only expose truth but also eradicate the darkness in the world today? Join the conversation . Today’s Scripture But everything exposed by the