Prayer on Waking: Contemplative Essays and Poetry

How we respond to grief, how we linger with the lives around us, in what situations we allow ourselves to get playful or creative - these decisions add up to practices that shape our lives. Mundane choices can be spiritual as well as creative acts that infuse seemingly little things with great meaning. Paying attention to these meanings can tilt our perspectives in contemplative directions.

The contemplative essays and poetry collected here are loosely gathered around themes of memory, adaptation, experimentation, and creativity. They reflect Smith's creative forays into daily life as a blogger, novelist, clergy person, and introvert and include the prize-winning essays "On Memories and Acts of Care" and "The Book Accident: On Absence, Presence, and Grief." Each section offers questions and other prompts to support individual reflection and group discussion.

"Relatable and well-written .... Callie weaves together multiple vignettes ... [from] a deep place of continuity and warmth." - Praise for Callie J. Smith from The Polk Street Review