Prayer opened the door of my heart during my recent retreat. I was surrounded and supportive with prayers from others from their own life journeys and prayers that bubbled up within me as I spent time with God.I am home now following this two-week retreat on the “Art of Guiding Individually Directed Retreats.” The setting was at the lovely St. Francis Retreat Center in Michigan and sponsored by the Dominican Center at Marywood. Our retreat leader was Sister Nancy Brousseau, my mentor and spiritual guide through my formation as a spiritual director. Nancy always invites us to go deeper, to let go and plunge into God. Knowing that should have prepared me for two weeks of not just learning with my head, but coming home with a new heart.I wanted to write a post today detailing the retreat about what I experienced and still am encountering with God. But I am lost to find the words to describe the intimacy and sacredness of these ongoing blessings.Instead I will share with you some of … [Read more...]
Be a Cloud Chaser – Looking Beyond
This is the last post about what I am learning about being a cloud chaser. I hope you have enjoyed pondering the clouds with me. I appreciate your comments and insights.Meteorologists tell us that every cloud contains a weather message. God sculpts all types of clouds as messengers of hope from Him to help us weather the storms in life.Join me: Become a child once again and capture the wonder as a cloud chaser. God’s canvas shows us surprises every day if we just take the time to look up, look inward, and look beyond our ordinary day-to-day drudgery.Earth from space, Apollo 17 mission. Credit NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Scientific Visualization Studio. Source: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a002600/a002681/index.htmlLooking BeyondCloud chasing reminds us to look beyond our momentary problems and negative emotions. We find hope in knowing the sun does still shine on days when can’t see its light.Looking beyond into the Beyond helps me to focus more on God and less on the … [Read more...]
Be A Cloud Chaser – Looking Inward
This is a 4th of 5 posts about what I am learning about being a cloud chaser. The last one will be on Thursday. I appreciate your comments and insights.Meteorologists tell us that every cloud contains a weather message. God sculpts all types of clouds as messengers of hope from Him to help us weather the storms in life.Join me: Become a child once again and capture the wonder as a cloud chaser. God’s canvas shows us surprises every day if we just take the time to look up, look inward, and look beyond our ordinary day-to-day drudgery.Looking InwardI look outward too much. I look to others to prove my self worth. I see what others have and what they accomplish and I struggle with discontent. I fill my emptiness with temporary pleasures of the world, such as food and shopping. Cloud chasing invites us to look inward and to indentify what is churning within our hearts. As I write this post, it is overcast outside – one continuous grey cloud. I assume most of you have been in an airplane. … [Read more...]
Be a Cloud Chaser – Looking Up
This is a third post of what I am learning about being a cloud chaser.Meteorologists tell us that every cloud contains a weather message. God sculpts all types of clouds as messengers of hope from Him to help us weather the storms in life.I have been exploring clouds for a possible book proposal and want to share with you over a series of posts some of the lessons I have discovered by becoming a Cloud Chaser. Join me: Become a child once again and capture the wonder as a cloud chaser. God’s canvas shows us surprises every day if we just take the time to look up, look inward, and look beyond our ordinary day-to-day drudgery.Looking up Cloud chasing involves looking up, a physical act of raising the chin which alone may be enough to life the spirit and provides a momentary pause by focusing on new possibilities instead of our problems.Here are lessons I am pondering when I look upward: 1. Clouds have been called “Billboards of Coming Attractions.” How do clouds forewarn us of … [Read more...]
Be A Cloud Chaser – The Wonder of Clouds
Meteorologists tell us that every cloud contains a weather message. God sculpts all types of clouds as messengers of hope from Him to help us weather the storms in life.I have been exploring clouds for a possible book proposal and want to share with you over a series of posts some of the lessons I have discovered by becoming a Cloud Chaser. Join me: Become a child once again and capture the wonder as a cloud chaser. God’s canvas shows us surprises every day if we just take the time to look up, look inward, and look beyond our ordinary day-to-day drudgery. I am fascinated about clouds. God really outdid Himself when He added them to His sky. Today I want to share some amazing features about clouds. Hopefully you too will get excited about clouds and come along with me discovering their daily messages.1. “Clouds and cloud shapes are the greatest free show on earth, It doesn’t cost a penny to look up and feast your eyes on the view.” John Day.2. A cloud is a collection of millions of … [Read more...]
How to Become a Cloud Chaser
Do you remember how when we were children we would watch clouds with an intense interest and imagination? We would rest on our backs on the cool grass on a warm summer day and examined God’s blue pallet. “Look, there is a giraffe.”“Over there, a speeding car.”“And if I squeeze my eyes till they are almost close, I think I see a marshmallow being stretched apart by two gorillas.”Meteorologists tell us that every cloud contains a weather message. God sculpts all types of clouds as messengers of hope from Him to help us weather the storms in life.I love looking up each day and seeking what God is telling me in his heaven. You see, I am a cloud chaser.· Cloud chasing involves looking up. This physical act of raising the chin lifts the spirit and provides a momentary pause by focusing on new possibilities instead of our problems.· Cloud chasing invites us to look inward and to indentify what is churning within our hearts. · Cloud chasing reminds us to look beyond our … [Read more...]
My Utmost Prayer
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. This fun meme has now progressed to the letter U and that leads me to think about the word:UTMOSTUtmost is not a word I have thought about much. Utmost does not rank high on my vocabulary list.Daily I read Oswald Chambers well known devotional, My Utmost of His Highest. I study this classic each year and continue to find gems I never noticed before or words that warm my heart in new ways.Chambers coined the phrase, “My Utmost for His Highest” and used it in his writings and talks so much, when his wife compiled his thoughts into daily devotionals; she knew it had to be the title.Utmost? What is my utmost? Why is this word calling … [Read more...]
A Powerful Response to the Question: How Are You?
Patty Wysong has created a fun meme where once a week bloggers posted on the letter of the week. Check out the details here. It is called A2Z: Take 2. A2Z as she challenges bloggers to write a post each week going through the alphabet. Take 2 since this is the second time she has used this meme. Anyone can join in and you don’t have to always participate. This fun meme has now progressed to the letter T. The letter T starts my answer to the question:How Are You?We all do it. We pass each other with the causal, not expecting an honest answer, to the question of “How are you?”I read recently some blog conversations challenging us to answer honestly. To stop and really listen. I wonder how many of us answer exactly how we feel. Do we in truth want to slow down and hear someone’s reply?Do we say?:To be honest, I am not feeling well. Or I feel alone and abandoned today and cried myself to sleep last night. Or even I can’t believe you are asking me when I know you really don’t care or … [Read more...]