Germany Pilgrimage and Upcoming Changes I am home from the Germany pilgrimage with a full heart of memories, new lessons, a renewed appreciation of history and millstone of jet lag.  I even brought home some German germs in the form of a slight head cold.  Cough, sniff…  I wrote here a couple of weeks ago about the difference between a vacation and a pilgrimage.  The devotions we experienced as a group based on what we were seeing each day grounded our journey and deepened our insights.  The one following our visit to Dacha Concentration Camp was especially poignant. We definitely left Germany differently from when we arrived with our minds full of new insights and knowledge, our eyes open to new perspectives, and our hearts widened with more compassion. As I journaled my thoughts, emotions, and encounters on this trip, I kept noting – “Oh, this should be a blog post!” so I am making a few changes to Healthy Spirituality for this month.  In this post and then the next five, … [Read more...]

Whiffs of Wisdom I like to catch whiffs of wisdom – those quotes, stories, conversations that ooze truth and resonated deep within us. I hear them and say, yes I want to embrace that!  I am learning to pay more attention to them in the ordinary moments and find once I start watching for them – God’s wise words are tucked into every corner of my day. I jot them into my journal, on the back of the church bulletin, onto colorful post- it notes.  With a smile, I enfold them into my heart. I call them whiffs of wisdom because their appearance is fleeting and often quiet. Like vapor or smoke, they quickly fade without much trace. Here are some recent whiffs of wisdom I have captured: I heard a speaker say – we have two primary fears: One, that we are not enough and two, we won’t be loved.  The truth that we are children of God banishes the first fear and that we are beloved children of God obliterates the second.  I am trying to remember this when I recognize fear’s … [Read more...]

Bird's Eye View My four-year-old twin grandsons saw him first. A young robin had fallen from his nest in the large tree in our front yard “Don’t touch him,” I cautioned.  Of course being boys, they didn’t like that advice. I explained to them that the mommy and daddy bird may be watching us and may still take care of the baby if we let him alone.  We kept a far distant eye on that little fellow the rest of the day. It wasn’t until evening that I remember our tiny buddy and wondered how he was doing. I peered out my front window to that area of the yard and sure enough, one of the parent robins hovered near her prodigal son. Over the next few days, every time we looked that direction, a vigilant robin was either on the ground near the baby, finding worms to feed their little one, or watching above from the telephone wires. Whenever one of us would be in the front yard, the sharp-eyed guard would squawk multiple warning shrieks. Extra protection under watchful … [Read more...]

Monthly Musings Each month I pause and take a look back at what I am discovering, learning, and exploring in life – I call these my monthly musings. Living a reflective life is a spiritual practice that adds depth and gratitude to our lives. Often our busy schedules make it difficult to keep a daily journal, but we can find the time to take notes of the some of the highlights, lessons, and joys by waking up and paying attention.I record these on the pages of my Monthly Musing Journal.  You can use anything, scrapes of papers, a journal or a calendar.  Copies of my Monthly Musing Journal are available on Amazon and are a convenient way to keep track of the little things in life we often miss.     What I Learned in May Lessons Learned Notice what repeats in our lives. God whispers in the ordinary. I think God often has to hit me with his spiritual 2x4 multiple times before I wake up enough to hear him.  Kind of like that loving Gibbs slap to the back of the head moment … [Read more...]