Being the Beloved:
stories of experiencing God in daily life
By Tamarah Lee, Spiritual Director
Last summer I went to Northern Ireland for a peace-making retreat. We met with artists, songwriters, and ministers who had been a part of the Good Friday Accords. We stood in the room where Catholic priests met monthly with protestant pastors because, they reasoned, how could you love your neighbor if you didn’t know who your neighbors were? The protestants and the Catholics, the British and the Irish met clandestinely for years; people with opposing ideologies, values, religions, putting their lives in jeopardy, to lay the groundwork for a world after The Troubles. This peace work wasn’t creating policy; it was creating community.
The group of us Americans stood in awe at the story, and the leaders layered the week of hard history with award-winning student musicians, cultural myths, reclamation of Celtic spirituality, and the practical outworking of all of this work in the day-to-day living some thirty years later.
As the week drew to an end, our leaders gave us the essence of the questions that the group at Clonard Monastery asked one another in all those years of monthly meetings. We gathered in threes and fours to ask each other the same questions as a way to mend today’s fracturing world: “What goodness is bringing us to the edge of our seat? What is distracting us from engaging with what is ours to do? How are we invited to be?”
Following our encounter with peace-making in Ireland, a group of us found our hearts bound together and have continued to meet once a month on Zoom. Each month we hold space for one another, with no advice, no talking back, we just put our answers into a safe place and leave them there to be held in the light.
Recently I flew back from the wedding of two members of our group, who met in Ireland. The retired seminary professor from Portland married the former nun from Notre Dame in a circular Catholic chapel, filled with retired sisters, led by a priest, homily by an evangelical pastor. The “flower girl” was a 102-year-old nun, the “honored friend” was a son. Those of us who gather monthly flew in from all over the country to bear witness to this gift of Ireland peace that kept giving.
The next day we pulled together a brunch (blessing the proximity of a Trader Joe’s, and the VRBO host who figured this gathering wouldn’t violate the “no parties” rule). We ladies knew how to cook together, and our spouses knew how to be support staff, and in the kitchen, we were community, overjoyed that a year of asking, “What brings you to the edge of your seat?” meant we could celebrate something this ecumenically beautiful.
Afterwards, we sat in the living room, eating the extra cupcakes and punch, telling each other what is distracting us from what is ours to do, and muddled our way to how we are called to be. We listened to one another’s stories and participated in the groundwork of peace-making, ready to return home and continue to live on the edge of our seats.
FOR REFLECTION: Perhaps you’d like to sit with these question for yourself: What goodness is bringing you to the edge of your seat? What is distracting you from what is yours to do? How are you called to be today?
Author Bio: Tamarah Lee is a spiritual director and a Lit and Comp teacher in the secular home-schooling world. She loves the power of stories to create places of discovery, be it in individual direction, group direction, or the many books of our world. You can find her at www.tamarahlee.com
What are your responses to these reflection questions? Post in the comments below or hop on over to our Facebook page and share with one another. (Photo by Tamarah Lee - Ireland Coastline)
CFDM-NW will be offering Listening Groups, and online, monthly Mini Retreats again starting in September!
Online Mini Retreat:
SEPTEMBER 26, 2026, 10a-12p PT
Understanding The Voice of God and How It Works in Our Lives
Presenter: Paula Mitchell
In this mini retreat we will seek a deeper understanding of the voice of God and how he works generally in all believers and specifically in each one of us. As we focus on hearing God, I’ll share some helpful tools/disciplines to assist you as you seek to listen to His voice knowing that confidence, trust and focus on God are the keys that unlock the doors to clarity and peace.
