Marilyn McEntyre – författare

Lent is about more than going to church on weekdays and giving up chocolate or social media. It’s also a time to form one’s heart and mind through study and prayer. In Where the Eye Alights, Marilyn McEntyre offers forty short meditations, based on excerpts from Scripture and poetry, that guide readers on a devotional journey from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday. As in lectio divina—the spiritual practice of reading Scripture repetitively and meditatively—McEntyre invites us to notice words that may give us pause and summon us to reflection. This book calls our attention to how the Spirit speaks through phrases that can open doors to deep places for those willing to sit still with them. 

“Lent is a time of permission,” says McEntyre. “Many of us find it hard to give ourselves permission to pause, to sit still, to reflect or meditate or pray in the midst of daily occupations—most of them very likely worthy in themselves—that fill our waking minds and propel us out of bed and on to the next thing. We need the explicit invitation the liturgical year provides to change pace, to curtail our busyness a bit, to make our times with self and God a little more spacious, a little more leisurely, and see what comes. The reflections I offer here come from a very simple practice of daily meditation on whatever has come to mind in the quiet of early morning.”

What if writing a list could literally change your life?​

From the ancient book of Numbers to the latest clickbait listicle, list-writing has been a routine feature of human experience. Shopping lists. To-do lists. Guest lists. Bucket lists. Lists are everywhere you look.​

But what if our lists did more than just remind us to buy milk and take out the trash? What if the practice of list-making could help us discover who we truly are and even point us to our deepest joys, hopes, and desires?​

In Make a List teacher, writer, and wordsmith Marilyn McEntyre shows readers how the simple act of writing a list can open doors to personal discovery and spiritual growth. Deepening her reflections with abundant writing prompts and real-life examples, McEntyre turns the humble list into a work of art—one that has the power to clear minds, open hearts, and change lives.

What can we learn from contemporary writers about keeping public conversation compassionate, vigorous, faithful, and life-giving?

Those who want to avoid simplistic partisan rhetoric and use words in a challenging, spirited way need practical strategies. This book offers a range of them. 

Drawing upon the work of exemplary contemporary writers, Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict shows how to speak and write clearly and generously. For example, we can attend more carefully to the effects of metaphors, recognize and avoid glib euphemisms, define terms in ways that retrieve core meanings and revitalize them, and enrich our sense of history by deft use of allusion. 

Contemporary readers are awash in many words that have been cheapened and profaned. But with deliberate use of intelligence and grace we can redeem their “sacramentality”—humanely uttered words can convey life-giving clarity and compassion. Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict is an homage to outstanding wordsmiths who have achieved that potential and an invitation to follow them in making well-chosen words instruments of peace.

Loving our children's children well is an art--one we keep learning as they grow.

Making memories and fostering relationships with our grandchildren in the midst of a fast-moving culture isn't easy, and a legacy that lasts isn't crafted overnight. So how do we as grandparents cultivate strong, meaningful relationships with the children we adore?

Start with The Mindful Grandparent. With twelve grandchildren between them, authors and educators Marilyn McEntyre and Shirley Showalter know deep in their bones that attending to the small ones in our lives has never been more important. Grandparents can help little ones learn to value relationships over things, lap time over screen time. They can help grandchildren live with intention, attentive to others, to nature, and to the diverse, beautiful, and troubled social world around them.

The Mindful Grandparent doesn't shy away from the challenging issues in contemporary grandparenting. Through inspired ideas teamed with simple practices and engaging stories, The Mindful Grandparent covers wide-ranging topics such as cultivating curiosity, giving meaningful gifts, helping children explore difficult topics, building a grandparent team, honoring adult children's boundaries, and managing technology.

Let The Mindful Grandparent be your guide and source of refuge for the sacred and sometimes bewildering work of grandparenting.

Slow down, sit, and savor the beauty and wisdom of winter--around us and within.

Award-winning writer Marilyn McEntyre invites us into winter--when stars assume heightened significance and the ambient quiet of snowscapes (or fogscapes or rainscapes) stills us. Winter is quieter than other seasons, sometimes lonelier, and it opens us to pay attention. We may at first feel the ache of diminishment as days grow more silent, but even as melancholy befits winter, this season also bears its own fruit. In the precarious waiting and unknowing, we surrender to natural forces and rhythms; our lives may be changed utterly as we grow deeper, more patient, more attentive to what's outside our doors, in the night sky, or hibernating deep within ourselves.

Perhaps now is the time to grab that cup of tea, that warm mug of whatever brings you comfort and cheer, and with each sip engage the wisdom of winter, the poems, the reflections to make the long season richer, warmer. As the author writes, "We live with less when the world grows cold and quiet, but lessening is a lesson: we can live with less. We need the silences that allow us to hear small glass chimes. And simple warmth can offer an occasion to be grateful for small things."

In poems and life-affirming reflections on freedom, growth, quietude, and keenly felt hope, we learn to live in simple contentment. Without being saccharine, Midwinter Light guides us to seek and find what we need, right where we are--a read for all walks of life that we can turn to again and again when we need to recenter.