Renewing your inner life
What draws someone to begin meditating?
For one couple in their mid-60s, it wasn’t something entirely new—they had followed a contemplative path for years. But their practice had become flat. They were looking for a way to renew their inner life, and when they heard about The School of Contemplative Life through their local church, they decided to try an online session.
“We have been Christians for 35 years,” Alice shared. “But this experience felt like coming home.”
A time of possibility and disorientation
In the midst of transitioning out of full-time work and parenting, they found themselves going through a difficult season. The online meditation practice arrived at just the right moment. “Our spiritual needs had become more visible,” Alice said. “It was time to dig deeper into the well.”
They first joined a session around two and a half years ago. Now, they meditate daily at 6:30am for 25 minutes, attending the Saturday group most weeks and occasionally joining on Wednesdays. “This way of meditating fits me like a glove,” she said. “Before, I was all over the place. I’m creative, my ideas come and go. But this has given me something I can stay with.”
When asked what benefits they’ve experienced, Alice said: “Deep contentment. With life. With myself. With my partner. With God.”
Alice also reflected on how she has been journeying with breast cancer over the past six months. “To be strong, I needed to be in a calm place. Meditation helped me make difficult decisions. I had to confront mortality, and I was able to face it with calm. At the end of the day, it’s you and God.”
The Practice and Compassion
Alice commented on the relationship between the practice and compassion. “I think it creates a pause,” Alice said. “A space to respond rather than react. Very often, you just need to be alongside someone with a silent response.”
She noted that her sense of self-compassion had deepened, too. “I’m so happy God loves me the way He does. It makes you gentler with yourself. I hadn’t been presented with that theology before—it was more about sin, original sin, what I had done wrong. But now I feel liberated. I’m already held in the embrace of God’s creation.”
She offered a gentle critique of societal pressure, the endless list of ‘oughts and shoulds,’ and how meditation has helped them let that go. “I gave that up 10 years ago,” Alice said. “I can’t live like that. God isn’t outside me, but within.”
Living from Love
Alice described living more fully from a place of love and acceptance. “That’s the safe place I’m reaching out from,” they said. “It’s my belief in who I am in God’s image that grounds me.”
Asked whether their connection with God had deepened through the practice, Alice didn’t hesitate. “Without a doubt. I lived with guilt for many years. I couldn’t love myself. But when I found that place of loving myself again, everything changed. God is both the fireplace and the fire.”
Community and Interconnectedness
Alice reflected on the sense of interconnectedness that has come through the practice. For them, nature is a primary place of communion: “I have a deeper sense that I am one with nature,” she said, “and a growing sense of responsibility toward it.”
She also spoke about how the simplicity of the practice and the teachings have helped anchor them: “Chris doesn’t just teach, he points beyond himself. He says it’s not about him, it’s about what the teaching leads to. That’s what we need.”
Coming Home
Alice and her husband’s story is a reminder that the path of meditation is not a retreat from life but an opportunity to go deeper into it. It is about showing up again and again, in joy and sorrow, in strength and illness, with openness and trust.
“I used to think I wasn’t worthy,” she said. “Now I know I am held. And this practice has changed our lives.”
This blog is based on one of the teachings given in a recent online meditation group gathering. You are warmly welcome to join one of our future gatherings.
Please note, this reflection, which is shared with permission, describes one participant’s personal experience and is not intended as medical or therapeutic advice.