Draft for early 2025 – Anam Cara Cottage - Wellness & Spiritual Care

Walking With Jesus, Learning With Many

Here in the quiet of the Woodland Study, where winter branches sketch prayers against the sky, I find myself returning again and again to Jesus as a teacher. Not only as a figure of faith, but as a living pattern of compassion, mercy, healing, humility, and love. As an ordained Christian minister who also listens carefully at the edges of many wisdom traditions, I offer these reflections for women navigating seasons of transition — grief and new beginnings, aging and vocation shifts, the ache of questions and the hope of becoming.

I write as one particular Christian, not on behalf of every church or denomination. My hope is to welcome Christian readers who cherish Jesus at the center of their faith, while also honoring the insights that can arise from conversation with spiritual paths beyond Christianity. If you come from another faith, from a woven-together spirituality, or from no tradition at all, you are welcome in this circle.

Jesus the Teacher: A Pattern of Compassion

In the stories we receive through the Gospels, Jesus teaches as much with his presence as with his words. He steps toward people who are overlooked, carrying illness, shame, or exhaustion. He notices the woman who reaches for the hem of his garment, the friend who cannot walk, the parent at the end of her strength. To be near Jesus is to be seen, not as a problem to fix but as a person to love.

Compassion, in this way of seeing, is not pity. It is a deep, courageous willingness to be moved by another’s pain. When I sit with women in seasons of transition, I often think of Jesus pausing on the road, asking simple questions: “What do you want me to do for you?” or “What are you looking for?” His questions do not rush past a person’s experience; they make room for it.

Mercy and Healing: Holding Brokenness with Tenderness

Jesus’ mercy is not abstract. It shows up in touch, in shared meals, in making space at the table for those who were told they did not belong. Many Christian traditions understand his healings as signs of God’s power. I also see in them a quieter, everyday invitation: to participate in healing by how we listen, how we bless one another’s limits, how we soften the harsh voices within and around us.

In my work at Anam Cara Cottage - Wellness & Spiritual Care, I sometimes draw on practices that echo across wisdom streams: mindful breathing, simple blessings, gentle body awareness, meditative reading of Scripture, poetry from varied traditions. None of these replace medical care, counseling, or other professional support. Instead, they help us notice where mercy wants to meet us in the middle of real life—in the kitchen, at the bedside, in the car outside an appointment we are afraid to keep.

Humility and Love: Learning Beyond Our Own Tradition

Jesus’ humility appears not only in the famous moments — washing dusty feet, riding a borrowed donkey, praying alone in the dark — but in how willing he is to be interrupted, to eat with those others avoided, to speak in stories that invite questions instead of silencing them. For those of us who follow him, humility can include acknowledging that our view is always partial, and that we have something to learn from people who walk other paths.

As a Christian minister, I hold Jesus at the core of my own spiritual life. At the same time, I have been taught and blessed by Buddhist teachers of mindfulness, by Jewish wisdom around Sabbath and lament, by Indigenous reverence for land and ancestors, by poets who name the Holy in unexpected ways. Learning across traditions does not require me to abandon my faith. Rather, it deepens my sense of how wide and mysterious God’s mercy may be.

I want to name clearly: I do not speak for every Christian community. Some churches embrace interreligious learning; others are cautious or opposed. My call, as I understand it, is to remain rooted in the story of Jesus while listening respectfully to the wisdom offered by neighbors of other faiths and by those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious, or not spiritual at all. In this listening, I often catch faint echoes of the same compassion, justice, and care for the vulnerable that I see in Jesus.

Bridging Everyday Life and the Mystery of the Spiritual Realm

Many women come to spiritual care in liminal seasons: after a loss, before a move, during menopause, when parenting shifts, when vocation questions rise. Ordinary life feels thin in places, and the veil between what we can see and what we cannot seems to flutter. The Christian scriptures speak of angels, visions, dreams, and a great cloud of witnesses. Other traditions also speak of ancestors, unseen helpers, and subtle realms of reality.

I honor these mysteries with reverence and caution. In my own practice, I sometimes sense the nearness of God’s presence, the hush of prayer that seems to include more than just the people in the room. At the same time, I cannot measure or prove what lies beyond the visible world, and I do not make promises about specific outcomes, messages, or interventions from the spiritual realm. Any intuition or image that arises in prayer is held lightly, tested against the fruits of peace, justice, and love, and never used to pressure or manipulate.

For some, language of “mediumship” or “speaking with the dead” is familiar. For others, it is uncomfortable or contrary to their beliefs. I want to be clear that I do not present spiritual practices, intuitive impressions, or gentle contemplative listening as replacements for professional medical, psychological, legal, or financial care. When a situation calls for a therapist, physician, or other specialist, I encourage and support that step. Spiritual companionship is one strand in the wider fabric of whole-person care.

Welcoming You as You Are

If you are a Christian longing to reconnect with Jesus in a season of transition, you are welcome. If you feel distant from church but still sense a quiet pull toward the Holy, you are welcome. If you draw from many wells or are simply curious, you are welcome. Together we can listen for the voice of compassion — in Scripture, in your own body and story, and in the whispers of wisdom that have found you so far.

My hope is that Anam Cara Cottage - Wellness & Spiritual Care can be a small clearing in the woods where faith and questions can rest side by side; where Jesus’ pattern of mercy, healing, humility, and love can meet you in your real life; and where the vast mystery of God’s presence remains honored rather than explained away.

A Gentle Spiritual-Practice Disclaimer

The reflections and practices described here are offered for spiritual enrichment and gentle support. They are not a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or emergency care, nor are they a guarantee of specific spiritual experiences or outcomes. Always seek the advice of your physician, therapist, or other qualified provider with any questions you may have about your health, safety, or well-being. If you choose to explore spiritual practices with me, we will move at your pace, with your consent, and within the boundaries of your own faith or ethical commitments.