What if the stories we love could become invitations to prayer?
In this episode, Christina Semmens welcomes author Eric A. Clayton to discuss this question in the context of Eric’s sharing about his latest book, Where Wonder Leads: Finding God Through Fairy Tales, Myth, and Contemplative Prayer. Drawing on Ignatian spirituality and his love of fantasy and science fiction, Eric explores how wonder, curiosity, and imagination help us recognize God at work in our lives. From Middle-earth and Star Wars to a minotaur and an ordinary onion, this conversation will help you connect storytelling with discernment, self-awareness, and everyday holiness. Eric also shares how to pray with the book’s 35 meditations and why even a few quiet minutes of daily prayer matter.
Key Takeaways
- Wonder makes room for surprise.** Approach prayer with curiosity and openness rather than a fixed agenda about what God should reveal.
- Imagination can help us respond to God’s call.** Eric points to St. Ignatius’s story to show how imagining a different life can help us move beyond familiar patterns.
- Stories can reveal our interior lives.** Unfamiliar worlds and exaggerated characters help us notice desires, fears, resistance, and habits we might otherwise overlook.
- Bring the imagined scene into conversation with real life.** Enter the scene with your senses, pause to reflect on your everyday experience, then return to the scene with what you have discovered.
- Discern storytelling by what it awakens in you.** Eric suggests noticing whether a story deepens curiosity, empathy, and openness to God and others when distinguishing fruitful imagination from escapism.
- Holiness grows through ordinary attention and faithful prayer.** Finding God in all things includes mundane moments, uncomfortable invitations, and showing up to pray even when it feels quiet or unrewarding.
My conversation with Eric was an uplifting and wonderful one, full of hope, and like his book, sure to help you find God through stories and imagination!
Suggested Resolutions from This Conversation and Your Invitation for the Week
Set aside a few quiet minutes. Bring a story, character, or ordinary moment into prayer and ask: *What is stirring within me? Where am I clinging to comfort? Where might God be inviting me to take the next step?
Chapters and Timestamps
00:00 — Welcome and introduction to Where Wonder Leads
01:17 — Eric’s journey: creative writing, international development, and the Jesuits
04:35 — The book’s inspiration: moving from analyzing stories to praying with them
07:22 — Wonder, curiosity, and openness to God’s surprises
09:37 — Imagination in prayer and St. Ignatius’s invitation to a different life
13:26 — Why fantasy worlds help us see ourselves differently; a Star Trek example
17:02 — Why 35 meditations? Editing the book and the bonus mermaid chapter
19:42 — How the meditations work: entering a scene and returning to ordinary life
21:35 — The minotaur: reflecting on embodiment and how we see ourselves
23:40 — Christina’s experience: magic stones, hope, and interior movements
24:49 — Prayerful imagination versus escapism
26:25 — Finding God in all things—even while chopping an onion
28:53 — The challenge of letting go and writing to serve the reader
31:06 — Living the message: comfort, trust, and crossing into the unknown
33:12 — A simple practice: daily prayer, silence, and showing up
34:19 — Eric’s favorite fictional worlds: Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings
36:31 — Where to find Eric’s books and work; closing encouragement
Books and Resources
Where Wonder Leads — Loyola Press
Bonus chapter: Sample Chapter! Discernment & Mermaids
Now Discern This — weekly Ignatian reflections and newsletter signup
My Life with the Jedi: The Spirituality of Star Wars
Cannonball Moments: Telling Your Story, Deepening Your Faith
