If the reality of unconditional love is dawning upon you, as it is on me, then your natural impulse is to freely share your personal experience with the world. This is what practical spirituality is all about.

Have you written any meditation, poem, story, letter or essay that may, in its own way, enhance the value of this site for yourself and for others? Then e-mail me. Of course, true to the spirit of this site, neither copyrights nor payments will apply. Let your love expand unconditionally, and freedom will be your monument.

Stan Schaap

This essay is shared by Brian Joseph
In his Apology to the Athenians Socrates tells of coming upon a group of poets who do not understand the meaning of their own poems. In his Republic Plato said that all good poets were inspired and possessed when they created. Plato also said that “it is God Himself […]

This short story is shared by Brian Joseph
Maria sank down into her living room chair. It had been a long day. She closed her eyes and replayed the events of the last few days. There had been another encounter with one of the crippled hearts. When she was done replaying the events […]

This article is shared by Debbie Edwards
It’s never too late to realize your potential and achieve your dreams!
Everyone reaches plateau’s in their life when they find stagnation and indecision over what their life is really about. And that’s a natural evolution in the process of becoming a master of their own craft. This is where […]

This article is shared by Debbie Edwards
I never would have thought that the end of the summer in 1986 would have been such a big year for change for my family and I. I had just finished my whole elementary education in Catholic school and was ready to finally enter into the public school forum.
It […]

This article is shared by Debbie Edwards
My mom and dad never married. They separated before I had the chance to remember who he was. I grew up knowing him through glossy black and white professional photographs of him sitting at his piano, and a book proposal he had once written when he was an editor […]

This article is shared by Debbie Edwards
Have you ever received a really negative or frightening reading by a spiritual advisor? I’ve encountered several people within the last few days who have shared their personal experiences in which they were given really negative, doom and gloom, scenario’s of their future to come. I knew this happened. […]

What can I do when someone I love hurts? To be honest, my knee-jerk reaction is to try to fix them. Good grief, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had my ass handed back to me for doing that. My kids are the best example. When one of my kids is hurting I […]

This article is shared by Debbie Edwards
I’m sure you’ve noticed the change in attitude lately of everyone around you. Either someone is happy and loving, or they are completely angry and confused. This is happening everywhere. We all see it, feel it, and are actively experiencing it. With change comes people who will oppose it.
I […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
My grandson was here for five days, and I lived to tell about it. The husband and I spent much of that time trying to impress upon Cobi that a diet of just pickles and olives is not balanced or healthy. Yesterday, he had three huge pickles for lunch […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
Two kids were talking one day. Marvin said, “That new kid in school is nothing but a big fathead!”
Matilda, in her refined way, softly said, “You shouldn’t call people names like that. It’s rude. I never call people names.”
Marvin shrugged and told her, “Well, I just got mad when […]

This article is shared by Guy Finley
Each time we see the need to let go of something — a bad habit that drags us down, an unsatisfactory relationship, a career choice that can’t complete us in the way we dreamed it would, or maybe unrealistic expectations of ours about others that eventually spoil our partnerships […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
Last night my grandson, Cobi, was putting his pajamas on in the bathroom when suddenly, the door swung open and he jumped out. Wearing his underwear on his head, he announced, “It’s Undie Man to the rescue!”
Cobi loves super heroes. Last week when I bought him new shoes, his […]

This article is shared by William Cottringer
What is ‘It’? ‘It’ is the one thing we all want and yet do the same one thing to keep from getting. The trouble is that we have taken ‘It’ apart and disassembled ‘It’ into way too many different things, which has just increased the options we […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
Have you ever felt forgotten, neglected, unappreciated, or unloved? Haven’t we all?
Joseph, a prophet of God, was mistreated by his jealous brothers and just about everybody else he encountered. His brothers sold him as a slave and told their dad he’d been killed by a wild animal. With relatives […]

This story is shared by Kristine K. Lowder
“Find the most beautiful anniversary card you can and send it to Marilyn as a token of My love for you.”
“But Lord,” I sputtered, “you don’t understand. Send Marilyn a card after what she did to me? Are you kidding?”
His velvet steel reply was unequivocal, […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
I recently bought a magnifying mirror . . . a big, lighted magnifying mirror that makes it impossible for me to ignore all my face’s imperfections. The unreasonable clerk who sold me the mirror wouldn’t let me return it. She said not liking what I saw in it wasn’t […]

This article is shared by Kristine K. Lowder
Do you remember the jingle? It’s the catchy tune from one of TV’s top shows of yester-year:

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
And they’re always glad you came;
You want to be where you can see,
Our troubles are all the same;
You want to be where everybody […]

This article is shared by Kristine K. Lowder
I have a confession. I’m an “after-Christmas” aficionada. I love to save on “after-Christmas” sales. I love to “stock up for next year” at half-price and exchange unwanted gifts for refunds. I like clearing up and cleaning out and the sparkling expanse of a […]

This poem is shared by Kristine K. Lowder
Can I bind myself to that naked stake
Shall I lift high the red-striped timber
Will heart and hand fully lade partake
Can flesh fade without a whimper?
Do roses bloom without a brier
Shall I bend Thy will to mine
Doth dross consume sans smelting fire
Shall branch preserve the Vine?
How can I embrace […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
John the Baptist didn’t have any great talents. He didn’t perform mystifying miracles (not even a simple card trick). He wasn’t a handsome crooner with a voice like Perry Como’s. He didn’t have degrees or diplomas. He didn’t have an impressive gift of speaking like Billy Graham. He wasn’t […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
After some friends lost their home in a tornado, I helped them clean
up what was left. There wasn’t much. Where their house had once stood
was a refrigerator. That’s all. Destruction was everywhere. Debris
covered the yard and the nearby woods. All day we sorted through the
rubble, hoping to find intact […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
I swore it would never happen, but it did. I noticed it one sweltering August afternoon in 2001. I opened my mouth and . . . out came my mother’s voice! I was saying all the things I’d long ago sworn never to repeat. I HAD BECOME MY MOTHER!
I […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
As I loaded dishes into the dishwasher, I sang along with the radio. My grandson looked up from the picture he was coloring and said, “Grandma, there’s one thing about you that I don’t like.” Anticipating what he was going to say, I asked, “What? That I sing all […]

This short story is shared by Brian Joseph
He sat down in his favorite living room chair and looked at her peacefully asleep on the couch. It had been a long day. It had started early, with a Mother’s Day breakfast in bed. He had just put the children to sleep. He picked up the […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
I don’t like morning — it starts too early in the day. Yesterday morning was worse than most and started out bad from the get go. I always know it’s going to be a lousy day when it begins with getting out of bed. I’ve had bronchitis for over […]

This short story is shared by Brian Joseph
As soon as he sat down on the bench he began to drift back to that Valentine’s Day eighteen years before. It had been at this very same bench. He had been coming here every Valentine’s Day. He would sit for an hour or so and remember […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
Have you ever wished, during some horrible time of your life, that you could run into a safe place and hide from the sadness or fear that stalks you? I saw a movie about a mother and daughter whose home was broken into. They hid in a special safe […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
What can you say to a parent who loses a child to cancer? Whatever words we offer are inadequate to lessen their sorrow. We have no answers to questions like, “Why this child?” or “Why now?” and “What do I do now?”
Another question we all ask and cannot answer […]

This story is shared by Marsha Jordan
I have difficulty sleeping because my dog shares my bed. When I say “shares,” I mean he assigns me a tiny space on the edge where I must hang on with my toenails to keep from falling out. Louie stretches out sideways in the middle of the bed and […]

This article is shared by Marsha Jordan
My husband and I collect antiques and often argue about their value. He’ll say, “This is worth $500.” And my reply is “It’s not worth anything unless someone is willing to buy it.”

People put great value on things. I laugh at how much some folks pay for little trinkets […]