Arise Blog

Word Shift (part two): busy to full…receive instead of take…
Reflection Melanie Nixon Reflection Melanie Nixon

Word Shift (part two): busy to full…receive instead of take…

A few months ago, I shared another new thing: the practice of word shift. I was introduced to this practice through spiritual direction. Spiritual direction has been a place of opening up my life to “God’s wide open spaces. His expansive grace, love, and abundance.” Although this new thing began taking formation some time ago, it seems fitting for the renewing ways…

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Day by Day
Reflection Melanie Nixon Reflection Melanie Nixon

Day by Day

“Day by day” is a phrase you’ll often hear me say. 

A friend recently asked me why I use it so often, especially when asked “How are you doing?” 

I had an answer but it was a long one…

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Word Shift: loneliness to aloneness
Reflection Melanie Nixon Reflection Melanie Nixon

Word Shift: loneliness to aloneness

What I want to share is something I’ve come to appreciate with words.

It is called Word Shift. What takes place? A word shift happens when you take a familiar word, and notice its pattern of usage that holds you in some kind of stuck place, where life or thoughts become a little foggy or dim because the word has some trigger or effects you in some way that isn’t helpful. Sometimes the word has a feeling of resistance as well.

The offering is a Word Shift. This has been helpful for me—it brings in a newness, a light, a clearing of cloudiness…

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Dwelling places
Reflection Melanie Nixon Reflection Melanie Nixon

Dwelling places

Hello Friends!

How are you doing? I hope you are having some time to bask in the Lord and are noticing His graceful presence in your life. We certainly live in a time of tensions and can feel the pull in both directions. We may agree and disagree with the tensions and they can make us feel uncomfortable. I’d like to share with you some of the tensions within my own place of being. More so encourage you…

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