MY PATCHWORK QUILT SPIRITUALITY: A WORK IN PROGRESS !?!

2015 has been a hard year for me.

After living with my aged mother since 2010, she passed away on July1 at age 94. Her final weeks were under hospice care, and though I served in my last professional position as a spiritual care coordinator for a Virginia hospice, I had never served as a primary caregiver. The experience was quite exhausting, and I am still not ready to write about it. But I will say that, for all my experience with death and dying (as a former pastor and hospital chaplain who conducted my first funeral in 1971,) I have been overwhelmed by the mystery of it all.

And then there is the issue of parenting our son, who continues to struggle with the confusing aspects of his autism spectrum disorder. This process continues to be an emotional rollercoaster with its own kind of fatigue. [Someday I hope to write about our experiences with the "autism spectrum" but I am not yet prepared to do that either.]

Suffice it to say that my understanding of my own faith and spirituality has had its ups and downs.

But enough of my excuses for being so absent from my blog this year.

As I say goodbye to 2015, I want to re-commit myself to the potential of this blog and the potential of "patchwork quilt spirituality!"

Just this New Year's Eve morning, I was checking out Rami Shapiro's column (always fascinating) on the Spirituality and Health website. From there I saw a link to a Q&A interview with Thomas More (from Spiritualty & Health, Jan-Feb 2014)) about his 'new' book: A Religion of One's Own.   I am very eager to read this book, as I was thrilled to read his following quote:

"I think we need a new, deeper and more personally relevant religion that includes a strong spiritual component, one that draws from the traditions but is suited to the individual." 

It is my intent to use this blog in 2016 to provide resources and encouragement to empower individuals to choose what works for them and develop their own unique spirituality--that is, a PATCHWORK QUILT SPIRITUALITY.

Happy New Year to us all!