What matters most is that we show up

Good reads, spiritual inspiration, and one tiny surprise

Welcome back to our Wednesday round-up of others’ holy labors. Books, essays, poetry, prayers, podcasts, art, music—anything I’m loving lately. 

Let us know what you enjoy from this gathering of good work. I hope you might share with a friend, too. Always free, thanks to the paid subscribers who make this work possible.

---

Our favorite North Shore bookstore (Back Forty Books in Two Harbors, MN) with this win of a shelf title. See also: my current mental state.

1. Shared a salty update at the Compassion Brigade about my surgery tomorrow: “The world is too much for us, and far too much to bear on our own. So my deep desire for you is that whatever Terrible Thing you are going through (and most of us have at least one), you share about it with someone else. A trusted friend or an anonymous stranger, someone who can help you feel the lightness of letting the fear step out of your body, even for a moment. It is the point and privilege of being a person on this planet, to help each other bear the darkness.”

2. Hoping I feel okay-ish enough by Saturday afternoon to catch my dear friend

   Shannon K. Evans
   speaking about female mystics at The Contemplative Summit. (A free online offering! I’m not going anywhere for weeks HA.)

3. Lately I’ve been binging Kate Bowler’s podcast, and two episodes were unforgettable. Suleika Jaouad on how you are not the bad thing even when you fear your suffering is too much for others to handle. Clover Stroud on living with grief and the presence of those we have lost. Gorgeous, light-filled conversations.

4. My latest at (in)courage answers the question of what to get/do for someone newly diagnosed:  “As much as I’d love to give you a quick clickable list of ideas for the perfect care package for your ailing friend, I want to whisper this wisdom to you first. The same truth that I learned from my friends and Job learned from his: What matters most is simply that we show up for each other.” How to Help Your Friend Who’s Suffering (It’s Not What You Think!)

5. Just arrived on my doorstep in time for a month of prescribed rest & recovery: Even After Everything: The Spiritual Practice of Knowing the Risks and Loving Anyway by Stephanie Duncan Smith at

   SLANT LETTER
   . Can’t wait to dive into this memoir-meets-liturgical-year.

And one small surprise: if you’re a Hallow app user, you might want to tune into their daily rosary on Friday (10/25). Might be more to come there, too. But you didn’t hear it here…yet.

This post contains affiliate links for books.