Ash Wednesday is in two weeks. Two weeks!! Then the season of Lent shapes us as we walk towards Easter. Easter this year is April 17 – the day we celebrate our Lord’s resurrection and life-giving conquering of death for all of us, loving us with grace and forgiveness. We journey with Jesus remembering we are baptized into his life, his service, and his death, then, we rise in hope to life transformed. The immensity of this gift – this time of year – wakes me up and motivates me to pause and ponder the miracle and mystery of this church season. I hold with open palms my heart to this sacred rhythm of the church year. One practice this year for me it the adoption of this prayer from Henri Nouwen to start each day. “Borrowed” prayers can be powerful starting point for our own articulation of deeper longing to connect with God. How often have I lived through these weeks without paying much attention to penance, fasting, and prayer? How often have I missed the spiritual fruits of … [Read more...]
What was the Best Job You’ve ever Had?
What was the best job you’ve ever had? This was the question sent to me this past week from Storyworth. My daughter gave me a subscription to Storyworth for Christmas. This package includes weekly story prompts for the recipient to respond and share a story from their life. At the years end we will receive a hardcover book with all the stories collected in a legacy, keepsake compilation. Each Monday a thought provoking, memory-stirring question pops into my email. What was your dad like when you were a child? What was your first big trip? Write about one of your best days you remember. You have the option each week to choose a different question but so far, I haven’t gone that route. But last week’s question almost became the first switch. What was the best job you’ve ever had? Surprisingly I found this a difficult question to answer. It would have been easier to find a new question but one thing I have learned on my spiritual journey is when something stirs or jars my spirit, … [Read more...]
Enough
When you hear this word – enough – what comes to mind? Two phrases arising in my heart in response to this word are being enough and doing enough. I know others may ponder having enough. One word producing powerful gut reactions. “Enough” becomes a measuring stick of worthiness, competency, or contentment. This word often takes root in our worries, ego, and doubts. The truth is with God we are enough, we do enough, and we have enough. My head knows this truth but my heart still questions. When I think or hear myself use this word I am learning to pause and pay attention. Is this true or an old misbelief? Am using this word as an excuse or stick to beat myself up due to guilt, mistakes, or doubt? Being an Enneagram 3, I know shame and failure trigger me into a spiral of false and murky discouragement. Enough can be enough – just the right amount at the right time. My expectations – usually based dreamy perfection - is that life should be fair and should all work out. I … [Read more...]
Does Category Matter for Our Word of the Year?
What category or part of speech is your word of the year? Does it even matter? Every word can be categorized as a part of speech based on its function. Does this affect our relationship with our words? My word for 2022 is ALL. This word draws me into deeper surrender with God as he is my all in all and I want to give him my all. All in all ways always. All is a quiet word. A gentle word. A sense of yielding. Last year’s word – GO – meant action, movement, energy. Go is a verb. All is a noun, pronoun, or adverb. I really liked GO and all that I learned from its lively vitality. What a great word category. I never realized before how the part of speech of my annual word impacts how it feels to my heart. How words play with our mind and our perspectives. I confess that I miss the excitement, zest, and zip that Go brought into my life. But perhaps my heart is yearning for a different adventure in this season of my life. Less do and more be. Less me and more … [Read more...]
Share Four Somethings – January 2022
Share Four Somethings is a regular blog post several of my blogger friends publish sharing bits of wisdom in four categories. Heather’s 2022 categories are Something Loved, Something Gleaned, Something Braved, and Something Achieved. Lisa near the end of each month shares something she loves, something she read, something she treasures, and something ahead. I love this practice as it collects moments for reflection and growth. These “somethings” become markers in our spiritual journey. With so much pivoting and uncertainty in our lives right now, being grounded in a simple practice like this guides my way. So I will occasionally share my four somethings on this blog. I listened to my heart and to God and narrowed down my four categories to start with and to see what they will teach me this year. Something WiseSomething WonderfulSomething WhisperedSomething Whimsical Something Wise This quote challenged me this month and I am still sitting with its wisdom. … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Practice of Joy
Joy doesn’t come easy for me. I tend to be a focused, serious, get it done gal and am envious of others whose smiles light up a room and whose presence brings delight. When I do my year-end review and assess my various life arenas – physical, mental, spiritual, relationships, work, etc., the section titled fun, joy, or brightness of life often rates the lowest. I remember walking ahead of my mother and her friend down the neighborhood sidewalk when I was about 4 or 5 and overhearing the friend talk about me. “I worry about your daughter -she is so sober, never joyful.” What? Me? I didn’t feel that way, but that description scorched deep into my self image. I knew many moments of delight as a child but allowed that story to tell me otherwise. I realized the other day I have believing that narrative about myself even though I know it is not true. I asked God to help me practice joy more in His way. I cast away the old way of perceiving myself. Frederick Buechner wrote … [Read more...]
Always We Begin Again
“Always we begin again.” – St Benedict I think of this wisdom – always we begin again – at the start of every new year. I love the energy of starting an unmarked calendar, the hope of a new year, and all the possibilities that await to be discovered and explored. A fresh week, month, and year hold promises, dreams and joy filled expectations. I reread the writing in my journal. I called this “harvesting” and I glean the lessons from past 12 months. I honor all the experiences and emotions. I sit still, listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and enter the past, summarizing life in the rearview mirror. I wrote in 2011 on this blog: “January is the month of “Janus.” Janus was the Roman god of gates and doorways, depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions – a good image of this first month of the year. One face looks back on the year gone and the other looks forward to the new and uncertain one ahead. January is a reflective month – an opportunity to look back … [Read more...]
A Year End Blessing
I love the start of a new year. Days stretch before us full of promise, newness and undiscovered goodness. I pray you savor many blessings in 2022. John O'Donohue wrote a wonderful book titled, To Bless the Space Between Us, full of blessings for many occasions. I like to close a spiritual direction session by reading one of these blessings for the directees. I find his words bless me too. Last year I shared his blessing for a new year. This year I thought his words about the end of the year also could lead us to reflect and behold life. May this words bless you now too. At The End Of The Year As this year draws to its end,We give thanks for the gifts it broughtAnd how they became inlaid withinWhere neither time nor tide can touch them. The days when the veil liftedAnd the soul could see delight;When a quiver caressed the heartIn the sheer exuberance of being here. Surprises that came awakeIn forgotten corners of old fieldsWhere expectation seemed to have … [Read more...]