Why I Choose A Monthly Quote
Plus a quick review of where you can find me
Wish you had started a Lenten practice earlier but feel like it’s too late? Of course it’s not! Let’s make it easy. We created a free one-page Listening Guide to accompany The Lent Collection in the app. Your new Day One will be Monday March 31 and you’ll be all caught up by Holy Week.
Every year we conduct a survey of our readers and listeners and we just wrapped it up for 2025. One thing we learned this time around is some people are confused about all of the different things we do. (Listen, I get it. It can be a lot!)
If you’re one of them, here’s a short little cheat sheet. Otherwise, skip on down to the post!
The Next Right Thing (free) - This is the podcast I’ve hosted since 2017. New episodes come out every Tuesday. You may want to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts so new episodes show up for you. If you don’t listen for a few weeks, some podcast platforms will delete the podcast from your feed so you’ll need to re-subscribe.
The Quiet Collection (free and paid) - This is an app available in the App Store and Google Play Store. The app is free to download and has some free content available to everyone. Seasonally we release a new Collection of audio reflections (ex: Advent and Lent) that require an in-app purchase.
The Monthly Letter (free) - On the last day of every month I send out a newsletter to everyone on my email list sharing books I’m reading and 3 questions for your personal reflection. This letter is free and is the format I’ve been sending for almost a decade. Here’s a link to read January’s letter if you want to see what kinds of things to expect. If you want to get it on the last day of the month, you can add your name here.
The Soul Minimalist on Substack (free and paid) - That’s what you’re reading right now, either in your email or inside the Substack app. This is my main source of revenue (thank you!). Your $5/month subscription gets you access to every post I write here.
NOTE: When you see the paywall at the bottom of these posts, remember we offer scholarships to all who ask (see the about page for instructions). The reason I continue to send teasers to everyone is so that you can see what we’re talking about here each week and decide if you want to join us. That’s why sometimes you can read the whole post (the monthly free one) and other times the post is paywalled.
The goal of having many different ways to connect is not to overwhelm but to give you options. Hopefully at least one of these mediums will serve you!
A Quarterly Reflection
Every month I choose one primary quote to feature: words from a book, a line or two from a sermon, a lyric from a song or poem. It can be anything, really. I’ve mentioned before I write my quotes on the first monthly page inside The Next Right Thing Guided Journal.
Much like borrowing prayers, saving other people’s words is a way to get out of my own head and learn from someone else. When I do this with some intention (save the quotes and write them down), then I can easily reflect on meaningful quotes from not just this year but many years prior to this one. It’s one of my favorite ways to reflect on what I’m learning.
Here’s what that process looks like for me.
Last week I shared my quote for March from Dallas Willard: “The ‘real’ world has little room for a God of sparrows and children.” As we head into spring, I’m looking back on my monthly quotes for winter and wanted to share them with you here.
D E C E M B E R
“Once we stop wishing it were summer, winter can be a glorious season in which the world takes on a sparse beauty and even the pavements sparkle. It’s a a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order.”
—Katherine May, Wintering
Here is a book I’d been wanting to read for a while but every time I remembered it, the season wasn’t right. A book called Wintering seems to want to be read in the actual winter. I was so glad to remember it this year.
Why this quote: I chose this quote to hold in December because it so accurately speaks to one of my personal struggles which is the tendency to long for what isn’t yet here (or in some cases, for what used to be). This may come out literally, like by wishing for actual warm days in the middle of frigid December. Or more figuratively, by missing the gifts a dormant creative season might have to offer because I expect a constant bloom of ideas.
Short takeaway: Be where you are.
J A N U A R Y
“Abundance doesn’t need certainty to exist.”
—Tracey Gee, The Magic of Knowing What You Want