Judith Valente – Medium

Judith Valente

Words To Guide Us In 2025

If you had to select one word to use as a guiding star in the coming year, what would it be?

6d ago

A fountain pen lies open on a page full of words written in black ink.

6d ago

Launching The New Year With Hope

In a lovely short poem called “New Year,” writer James Crews describes the blank spaces on our fresh, new calendars as “snowy fields”…

Jan 5

A coffee cup, white pad with red penand some holly and red berries sit atop a wooden table.

Jan 5

Made For Joy, Made For Peace

It has been a strange Christmas season. Many of my friends who are normally upbeat and optimistic have seemed melancholic, if not downright…

Dec 29, 2024

A calm stream next to bare birch trees.

Dec 29, 2024

The Best Christmas Gifts, Ever

I recently reached out to a friend of mine — a young, lovely, successful professional woman — to make sure she had plans for Christmas. I…

Dec 22, 2024

Shoppers moving on escalators, looking over a second floor railing at a crowded department store decorated with Christmas trees and othe decor.

Dec 22, 2024

Finding Hope In Unexpected Places

I had an interesting experience recently attending an Advent prayer service at the Mennonite Church where I live (the Mennonite Church is…

Dec 15, 2024

A single yellow wild flower sprouts up within a crack in a concrete sidewalk.

Dec 15, 2024

An Invitation To Quietude

December is the time of year when the grizzlies sleep, the woodchuck slows its heart rate to just eight beats and minute, and the plant…

Dec 8, 2024

A fence in front of a line of bare trees and frozen ground.

Dec 8, 2024

Can I Hear An Amen To That?

In my weekly prayer group, a word that keeps cropping up is anxiety. An amorphous, general, constant anxiety. This despite the fact that so…

Dec 1, 2024

A pair of hands cups a burning white candle.

Dec 1, 2024

A Tough Thanksgiving This Year

Thanksgiving always has been my favorite holiday, just as one of my favorite gospel passages tells of the single leper out of ten who…

Nov 24, 2024

A child and an adult hold hands in prayer across a Thanksgiving dinner table.

Nov 24, 2024

Finding Solace (Again) In Poetry

In the most despondent periods of my life, a single consistent balm has helped healed my emotional wounds. Poetry.

Nov 17, 2024

Hard-bound poetry books sit on a table with two pink roses and a tea cup.

Nov 17, 2024

Overcoming Post-Election Despair

For many of us, the day after last week’s presidential felt less like morning in America, and more like mourning in America. I received a…

Nov 11, 2024

Four flat stones on top of each other next to a single smaller stone near a bamboo shoot against a green background.

Nov 11, 2024

Judith Valente

Judith Valente

Author of 4 spirituality books & 2 poetry collections. Award-winning reporter for Wall Street Journal, PBS-TV, Washington Post & 2 IL public radio stations.

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