Spiritual Fishing

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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Honesty is the net by which we fish the deep. – Mark Nepo

What I have learned from spiritual fishing.

I have always been a spiritual fisher.

I am a question asker, art creator, travel lover, and goal setter. I am curious and introspective and honest. I seldom choose the easy path. I have landed and lost jobs. I have been my best and worst self. I have lived all over the United States and traveled the world. Spiritual fishing has been my hot and cold test of life. Spiritual fishing, for me, has involved intentional wandering, deep wounds and lessons, and trying to find gratitude in the midst of it all.

Spiritual fishing can be challenging.

Spiritual fishing means dancing with an edge. An edge looks like setting audacious goals and realizing that giving your heart and soul to the goal is the ultimate victory. An edge looks like asking tough questions of ourselves and others and making peace with the answers. An edge looks like healthy boundaries and deep breaths. An edge looks like apologizing and forgiving in a way down deep, no fingers crossed, kind of way. An edge looks like embracing change and welcoming the unknown. An edge looks like turning mistakes into a main course and failure into dessert.

Being a spiritual fisher opens doors and softens hearts.

Spiritual fishing opens doors and softens hearts. We connect and expand. We broaden and build. We crumble and dissolve. We scratch and claw and hug and kiss. We taste all things bitter and sweet. We look around and observe. We listen. We question and meander. We create home and find our way there.

On casting our nets.

Spiritual fishing requires we have the courage and strength to cast our nets. It means we are open to finding what we find, learning what we learn, tossing what needs to be tossed, and keeping what needs to be kept. It means hope is our motivation and faith is our reason. That is the heart of spiritual fishing: casting our nets, again and agin, trying to simply love better.