I am a list maker.  And this time of year, my lists multiply like bunnies in springtime. Gift list.Cards to send list.Yummies to bake list.Travel list.Year-end tasks and goals to finish list.Winter cleaning list.Church services/messages to plan list.Hopes and dreams to remember next year list. I am just like Santa - making lists and checking it twice. My desk overflows with post-it notes, calendars, and extra Happy Planner pages. Paper and phone notes all representing my fruitless effort to gain a false sense of control in life. Time to stop. Slow down. Trust God. Simply to be. My Christmas To-Be List To be present. I want to be fully awake and mindful in moments. My default mode is future oriented and full of the noise of internal chatter. I want to connect deeper with God, with family and friends, and even myself.  One soul with another is holy ground. To be attentive. On the Myers-Briggs scale I am an INFJ. INFJs are energized by time alone … [Read more...]

The new church year has begun. Happy New Year! The church calendar flipped the page onto a new cycle of readings and messages and music beginning last Sunday. I love following the church year. The rhythm. The pattern. The framework for learning, listening, and being shaped by God. The church year calendar forms around the events in Jesus’ life. Then we too can center our lives, our worship, our spiritual formation around the lessons learned from walking and talking with Him. I love seeing the colors in worship change with each season of the liturgical year. Purple, white, green, black, red, pink, gold and others decorate the pulpit and altar creating a reflective atmosphere and setting the stage for pondering our God. The change of colors invites me to consider how is God changing/transforming me. The rhythm of the year reminds me of God’s ever presence no matter the season or time in my life. The ever changing, yet evolving and growing cycle of birth, service and death … [Read more...]

Gratitude is one of the most powerful spiritual practices we can do. The longer I venture on this spiritual journey called life the more I am in awe of how being thankful radically changes not only how we see life but also adds to its depth, richness, and joys. One of this blog’s main focuses is focus on spiritual disciplines that turn our hearts to God and gratitude is certainly a great example of this type of practice. This time of year naturally turns our hearts towards gratitude yet we have to also be intentionally in its practice. I find the stress of the world, other’s expectations, and internal conflicts consume my positivity, yet when I pause, pay attention to my blessings and thank God for all his gifts, my spirit lifts.  “Gratitude is like a flashlight. If you go out into your yard at night and turn on a flashlight, you suddenly can see what’s there. It was always there, but you couldn’t see it in the dark.”   Dawn Markova My experience with … [Read more...]

Guigo II – do you know him?  I certainly didn’t until Jim Finley introduced him to me in the wonderful podcast Listening to the Mystics.  Guigo became a new lamplighter for me and one inviting me deeper into prayer, especially lectio divina. Lamplighter I learned the term lamplighter from modern day mystic Cynthia Bourgeault who described spiritual teachers in her life – both ancient and contemporary - as lamplighters, those  lighting the way for her path. I love this word and have learned like electric wires bring light into my soul I too have lamplighters even a few high-tension ones that boost my spirit beyond the ordinary. Highly charged lamplighters for me are Henri Nouwen, Teresa of Avilla, and Barbara Brown Taylor. Who are your lamplighters? Guigo II Guigo is a new mystic and teacher for me. Guigo II, a Carthusian monk who died in 1193, left two key writings, the Ladder of Monks and the Twelve Meditations. These two works found in one book are my current … [Read more...]

Advent? Already? Yes, this special time of year is coming soon. Advent begins November 28 and is one of my favorite seasons of the year. The candles, music, words, and themes stir my spirit and refocus my heart of the true reason for the season. Exploring Advent themes brings peace and depth to my walk towards Christmas. Advent is the four weeks before Christmas and is a season of waiting, expecting, and hoping. Advent prepares our hearts and minds for the coming, or “advent” of the Christ child at Christmas. How will you grow during Advent? I ask God and my own soul that question every year - how do you want me to grow, to prepare my heart for the new church year?  Yes, the new church year begins with this holy season too. Happy New Year! LOL GROW is a great acronym to guide us during Advent. G – God R – Read O - Open W –Word and Wonder ***************************************** G – God First, I begin with God. Duh! You would think this is obvious but … [Read more...]

Creating space for God – a special place to connect and just be with the Lord slows me down, opens my heart, and helps me enter a time to worship, listen, and be fully present to the Presence. Now I believe God is always with us, no matter where we are or the atmosphere surrounding a location.  But my humanness experiences him easier when the environment around me calms my spirit.  I call it the cathedral effect. The last few years I have intentionally arranged sacred spaces and identified other types of environments that are my sweet spots of prayer. I reorganized the corner of my office adding a place for my Bible, journal, and a small altar to create space for God. I savor my backyard deck in the warm months surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature that stirs my soul. I crave time away in silence and stillness of retreat centers. I savor my time at my soul spot – a white sand beach. We just returned from a short week to Florida and time to … [Read more...]

Autumn invites us to reflect. We sense the year wrapping up and we wonder where the time has gone. We remember what we wanted to get done and can no longer even find the paper where our hopes and dreams were recorded. We watch the leaves fall, urging us to also let go of busyness and burdens. If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you know I collect quotes. I love these tiny bits of wisdom. Words inspiring me to pause and ponder. Breathing in what others wrote that resonates in my soul. Here are a few of my favorite autumn reflections: At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.  Rainer Maria Rilke Is not this a true autumn day? Just the still melancholy that I love - that makes … [Read more...]

Go is my word for the year. No one warned me in January that this tiny word would so powerfully weave its meaning into my world. Go stretched me in new surprising ways. My expectation with the word Go felt like a forward motion. I wrote out phrases such as Go with boldness. Letting Go. Get up and go. Go for it. Go the distance. All leading me onward, accomplishing, moving, crossing the finish line. Go transforms its meaning to me lately. Go invites me in a new direction.  Go deep. Go deeper. What does this mean? Go deep stirs up my imagination: descending into a dark damp cave. Entering a new eerie world full of unknowns and shadows and definitely out of my control, yet being led by the Light. Maybe pushing my roots, small shoots at a time, straining into crusty earth, new soil.  Leaving the safety of shallow waters and diving underwater, holding my breath, scanning the sea floor for hidden treasure. I sense I am working, yet not producing.  … [Read more...]