Pause and Ponder: Mary and Elizabeth
Who are the women you turn to when you need to talk? Who are the women you seek out when you are facing a crisis? Who are the women you look to for wisdom and comfort, reassurance and encouragement? Mary desperately needed to talk to someone after the angel Gabriel turned her world upside down. She needed help […]
The Advent Season
Thanksgiving has passed. Christmas is coming. For many folks, this season will be jam-packed with frenetic activity. In between the special events, the shopping, the decorating, and the baking, how can you set aside time for physical and emotional rest and spiritual reflection? Sunday, November 27, marked the beginning of the season of Advent. While […]
A Thanksgiving Blessing
May God bless you with . . . a heart overflowing with gratitude a mind focused on God’s good gifts a body energized to serve others May God bless you with . . . moments of reconnection with friends and family moments of remembrance of loved ones lost moments of reflection on God’s […]
Pause and Ponder: Nurturing a Mindset of Gratitude
Tis the season for giving thanks. But not everyone automatically feels thankful at Thanksgiving. For some, memories associated with Thanksgiving gatherings evoke feelings of anger and grief, sadness and loss. The essential question is this: Can you still give thanks even when your experience of the holiday won’t be a carefully curated, Instagram-worthy event? Thanksgiving […]
Pause and Ponder: Happy Halloween!
Every year on Halloween, I recall a conversation from my seminary days that took place during a New Testament class. With Halloween just a few days away, one of my classmates asked our professor a personal question: Do you allow your children to celebrate Halloween? I wasn’t sure why this young man posed the question. […]
Pause and Ponder: Weekly Meditation
Pause and Ponder – Chip Ceremony Once a month, staff gather in the chapel in Nashville on a Wednesday afternoon for a chip ceremony organized by our Certified Peer Recovery Specialists. At a recent ceremony, clients lined up in the hallway outside the chapel and waited for their turn to be celebrated. As a client […]
Pause and Ponder: Weekly Meditation
A few weeks ago, several TND staff were among the crowd at Ascend Amphitheater in Nashville when Ben Rector sang these words: Dream on Dream on Even when you’re afraid all your dreams may be gone Just dream on Dream on When the world says you’re crazy Just tell them they’re wrong and dream on […]
2021 in Reflection: Featuring Tambi Swiney
Tambi Swiney serves at The Next Door as the Spiritual Wellness Coordinator. She has been a part of the TND since the very beginning – she is one of the original Wild Praying Women who founded TND! Tambi’s patience, wisdom, and hope for this organization have been such a bright spot at TND this […]
Monday Meditation: The Beatitudes
– Written by Rev. Tambi Swiney When Jesus sat down on a mountainside overlooking the Sea of Galilee to deliver what would come to be known as “The Sermon on the Mount,” I imagine that the women and men and children who gathered around him leaned forward, straining to hear his provocative words. The opening […]
Monday Meditation: “The Hill We Climb”
– Written by Rev. Tambi Swiney I can’t get her words out of mind. Last Wednesday, 22-year-old Amanda Gorman burst into the world’s collective consciousness as she recited her poem “The Hill We Climb” on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Gorman began and ended her poem with references to light. In the opening line […]
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