"Lent 2025, Episode 6: "Doing Our Part to Grow Joy," March 24, 2025

This sixth episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Joy. Scott starts with a funny story about how sitting around waiting for joy to grow on its own rarely bears much fruit.  We need to do the little things, day by day, that cultivate joy in our lives and the lives of others. 

If you don't have a booklet, sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from Living Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup. An archive of the daily readings can be found at https://www.livingcompass.org/living-well-through-lent-2025-readings

(Click the player above to listen to this episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Lent 2025, Episode 5: When Peace Moves Us Out of Our Comfort Zones," March 20, 2025"

This fifth episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Peace. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, and often, that means moving out of our comfort zones and making peace with people who we find challenging to make peace with. To do this, it can be helpful to consider our thoughts, words, and deeds regarding peacemaking.    

If you don't have a booklet, sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from Living Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup. An archive of the daily readings can be found at https://www.livingcompass.org/living-well-through-lent-2025-readings

(Click the player above to listen to this episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Lent 2025, Episode 4: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit (Peace)," March 17, 2025"

This fourth episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Peace. Jesus calls us to be peacemakers, not simply people who feel peaceful. To be a peacemaker means to enter into situations where there is conflict--and as Scott shares in this episode, sometimes being a peacemaker means bringing peace to a conflict that we have caused.  

If you don't have a booklet can sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from Living Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup. An archive of the daily readings can be found at https://www.livingcompass.org/living-well-through-lent-2025-readings

(Click the player above to listen to this episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Lent 2025, Episode 3: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness), March 13, 2025"

This third episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Faithfulness. Faithfulness is described as "trusting in the slow work of God" and also as practicing deep listening--to one another and to God. 

A guided meditation is also offered during the last 3 minutes of this episode.  

If you don't have a booklet can sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from Living Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup. An archive of the daily readings can be found at https://www.livingcompass.org/living-well-through-lent-2025-readings

(Click the player above to listen to this episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Lent 2025, Episode 2: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit (Faithfulness), March 10, 2025"

This second episode for Lent 2025 focuses on Cultivating Faithfulness. Faithfulness is described as "a long obedience in the same direction," and the journey of faith is compared to running a marathon.

A guided meditation is also offered during the last 3-4 minutes of this episode.  

You can sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from LIving Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup

(Click the player above to listen to this episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Lent 2025, Episode 1: Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit"

This first episode for Lent 2025 begins our focus on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind. In this episode we look at how humility is the soil in which we can cultivate these fruits. The Parable of the Sower is explored as a metaphor for our inner lives.  A guided meditation is also offered during the last 3-4 minutes of this episode.  

You can sign up to receive the daily emails for Lent from LIving Compass at www.livingcompass.org/lent-signup

(Click the player above to listen to this 6:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Preparing for Lent by Tending Our Soil," March 2, 2025, Episode 111

This year, our Living Compass daily readings for Lent will focus on Cultivating the Fruit of the Spirit. In this episode, we look at the Parable of the Sower and discuss how tending the soil of our inner lives is good preparation for Lent.

(Click the player above to listen to this 6:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"There is No Path to Peace. Peace is the Path," February 19, 2025, Episode 110

This episode explores the wisdom from Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh who said, "There is no path to peace. Peace is the path."

(Click the player above to listen to this 6:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"The Fish Who Wanted to See the Ocean," Episode #108 January 28, 2025

Scott tells the story about a fish who wanted to see the ocean and discusses how it is a metaphor for living a contemplative life. 

(Click the player above to listen to this 6:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

"Listen to the Sound of the Genuine--a Guided Six-Minute Guided Meditation," January 13, 2025

(Click the player above to listen to this 7:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

This episode is a 6-minute guided mediation on a quote from Howard Thurman about "listening to the sound of the genuine" within ourselves.  The entire quote is: "There is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of the genuine in yourself. It is the only true guide you will ever need."

"Always We Begin Again: Prioritizing Spiritual Growth in the New Year," Dec 31, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 7:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

This quote from St. Benedict is the focus of this episode as Scott talks about prioritizing our spiritual growth in the new year: "It is for us to train our hearts to live in grace, to sacrifice our self-centered desires, to find the peace without want, without seeking it for ourselves; and even when we fail, always we begin again." 

"The Peace that Comes When We Soften Our Hearts," Christmas Eve, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 7:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

In this episode, Scott shares a Christmas Eve story that touched his heart many years ago, a story that reminds him of the peace that comes when we are able to soften our hearts.  

"Let Us Sow Light and Joy," Episode Six for Advent, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 7:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

In this episode, Scott discusses a beautiful thing about sowing light, love, joy, and peace: giving away as much of these things as possible never diminishes what we have ourselves. I can light countless candles from a candle I am holding, and the flame of my candle is never diminished.

"Understanding the Peace that Passes Understanding," Episode Five for Advent, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 7:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

In this episode, Scott reflects on the well-known scripture, Philippians 4:5-7, daring to try to understand the peace which passes understanding:

 "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

"Be Still and Know. Be Still and Be at Peace," Episode Four for Advent, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 6:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

There is a deep connection between being still and being at peace.  This episode explores this connection and also explores the idea of "Be still and 'no!'"

"The Wisdom of the Twelve Steps for Making Peace with Ourselves," Episode Three for Advent, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 7:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

In this episode, Scott talks about how the wisdom of the Twelve Steps can help guide us as we focus on making peace with ourselves.

Here are the Twelve Steps:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

"Deepening Our Understanding of Peace," Episode Two for Advent, December 6, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 6:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

In this episode, Scott Stoner helps us gain a deeper understanding of peace by discussing how the Peace of Christ is not dependent on external circumstances. 

"The Transformative Power of Peace," Episode One for Advent, December 2, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 5:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

During Advent, we will release two weekly episodes focusing on our Advent theme of "Practicing Peace with All Your Heart, Soul, Strength, and Mind." The booklets are all gone, but you can receive the daily reflections by email.  Visit www.livingcompass.org/advent-signup

In this episode, Scott Stoner helps us gain a deeper understanding of peace by discussing how peace is not just about calmness and serenity but also the transformative power of forgiveness and reconciliation. 

"Gratitude and Peace," Episode 97, November 28, 2024

(Click the player above to listen to this 5:00 episode.) You can also find this podcast in your favorite podcast app—Apple, Google, Spotify, etc. Search for Living Compass, and be sure to subscribe so you get new episodes automatically.

As we pause to focus on gratitude, we see a deep connection between gratitude and peace. In this new podcast episode, Scott talks about this and invites everyone to join Living Compass as we focus on Practicing Peace this Advent.