Category: Mentors Who Changed Me
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We All Stand on the Shoulders of Someone Who Believed in Us
There are some writing prompts that are difficult because there are simply too many people to choose from. “We all stand on the shoulders of someone who believed in us” is one of those. After Hurricane Katrina devastated Mississippi in 2005, I helped lead a nonprofit organization that coordinated recovery efforts. It was meaningful work,…
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Books That Challenge Us: Spiritual Friendship and the Gift of a Friend
Some books entertain us. Some teach us. A few change the way we see the world. For me, that book was Spiritual Friendship by St. Aelred of Rievaulx. I was introduced to St. Aelred during the Summer of Saints study at St. James Episcopal Church in the summer of 2025. At first, I thought I…
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Standing on the Shoulders of Those Who Believed in Us
There is an old saying that we stand on the shoulders of giants. I have discovered another truth along life’s journey: we all stand on the shoulders of someone who believed in us. As I look back over seventy-six years, I realize that many of the people who shaped my life never became famous. They…
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Aelred of Rievaulx and the School of Love
One of the unexpected gifts of my spiritual journey has been discovering the writings of Aelred of Rievaulx. Though he lived nearly nine hundred years ago, his words feel surprisingly fresh and relevant to our own day. Aelred is best known for his book Spiritual Friendship. In it, he presents a vision of human relationships…
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The Divine Dance of Love
Rediscovering the Trinity A Curious Pilgrim Reflection One of the most transformative ideas I have encountered in recent years comes from Richard Rohr’s book The Divine Dance. Rohr suggests that many Christians have spent centuries trying to explain God while missing the invitation to experience God. For many of us, faith began with learning doctrines,…
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Emptiness Alone is prepared for Fulness
Richard Rohr in The Divine Dance is inviting us to rethink both God and ourselves — not as isolated beings competing for importance, but as participants in an eternal flow of self-giving love. At the center of this reflection is the ancient Christian idea of kenosis, the “self-emptying” described in Philippians 2: “Though he was…
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The Divine Dance and Learning to Stop Resisting the Flow
Reflections from The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr Books & Mentors That Changed Me Series There are some books that merely inform us.Others quietly rearrange the furniture of the soul. One of those books for me has been The Divine Dance by Richard Rohr. I have found myself returning again and again to Rohr’s description…
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📖 The Art of Happiness
What I Learned Reading The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama and Howard Cutler challenged me to rethink something we often assume we already understand—what it truly means to be happy. 🌱 The Purpose of Life One of the most striking ideas is simple yet profound:The very purpose of our lives is to seek happiness.…
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Spiritual Friendship in a Fractured World: Lessons from Aelred of Rievaulx
A Reflection by Roy Pearson This summer, our church reviewed the lives of those who have lived before us as followers of Jesus. We studied some “saints” of the church that we may not remember, like Aelred of Rievaulx. I just read Aelred’s most famous treatise on “Spiritual Friendship”. n the twelfth century, Aelred of…
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Reflections on The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran: A Christian Perspective
by Roy Pearson Introduction:Every generation seeks wisdom that speaks to both the heart and the soul. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet has done exactly that for nearly a century — offering poetic reflections on love, work, freedom, and faith. As a follower of Jesus, I recently revisited this timeless masterpiece and found that, while its message…
The Curious Pilgrim 