Episode 5 – Play, Embodied Prayer, and the Wisdom of Children with Lacy Finn Borgo
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SPECIAL OFFER | As a listener of the show, you can get 25% off Deb Gregory's new book, Spiritual Wayfinding (https://www.ivpress.com/spiritual-wayfinding) , by using the code IVPOD25 at checkout at ivpress.com. We hope you enjoy this season!
Today’s guest is Lacy Finn Borgo—spiritual director, Renovaré faculty member, and longtime companion to children and families at Haven House, a transitional housing community in Colorado. Lacy is also the author of Spiritual Conversations with Children (https://www.amazon.com/Spiritual-Conversations-Children-Listening-Together/dp/0830846697) and Life with God for Children (https://renovare.org/books/life-with-god-for-children-curriculum) , books that have helped many of us reimagine children not as empty vessels to be filled, but as natural contemplatives who can lead us deeper into the heart of God.
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In this episode, we explore how children pray with their whole bodies, how play becomes a doorway into God’s presence, and how adults can learn to listen with humility and curiosity. Lacy shares stories from her work with children navigating trauma, her research on projection and imagination, and the surprising ways children model freedom, resilience, and unselfconscious connection with God.
In This Episode
• How children naturally engage God through play, imagination, and embodied movement
• Why adults often over-teach and under-listen
• The role of projection in helping children express their inner world
• How walking side-by-side opens deeper conversations
• Embodied practices that help children (and adults) regulate anxiety
• What children teach us about failure, freedom, and spiritual courage
Trail Marker: Why Poohsticks Works
Midway through the episode, we pause to explore the Pooh Thought-Sticks meditation—a practice Lacy and I reference early on. We look at why this simple act of naming a thought, choosing a stick, and releasing it into moving water helps the nervous system shift from defensiveness to openness. Rather
