The Spirit and Flesh Are One

The Principles Behind the Book, Seeds of Devotion

Roger Butts
7 min readAug 9, 2021

I was playing tennis at Memorial Park the other day. The sun was blasting. A number of us took shelter under a gazebo. Loud squawking. A mother bird and a nest and a couple of baby birds were at the highest point of the gazebo inside, living their life. Mama bird was not overjoyed to be interrupted in the midst of her daily tasks.

We tried to be quiet and mellow to let mama bird know we came in peace.

The birds were gorgeous. And in that moment, eternity burst through. We were touched by a sense of mystery and love and life. It was the divine presence right there.

Your life is dripping with the divine presence. The world is dripping with the divine presence. So begins my book, Seeds of Devotion.

Today, I won’t tell stories or read sections from that book. I will instead give you a glimpse into what animated the story telling and the prayer writing. The principles that I try to lift up, even if indirectly.

Let me start first with some foundational ideas and principles that I try to be a part of in everything I write.

Foundational is this idea:

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Roger Butts

Author, Seeds of Devotion. Unitarian Universalist. Ordained 20 years.