Are you holding tightly or lightly? As I grow older, I want less stuff. I am decluttering my basement, my closets, my collections, and my life. I wrote about the weird-sounding new trend called Swedish Death Cleaning on this post and when I saw the following quote, I thought once again about living a life more unattached than attached and living in an age of accessing vs possessing. "A reporter for TechCrunch recently observed, “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provide, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.” Indeed, digital media exhibits a similar absence. Netflix, the world’s largest video hub, allows me to watch a movie without owning it. Spotify, the largest music streaming company, lets me listen to whatever music I want without owning any of it. Amazon’s Kindle … [Read more...]
Amma Syncletica – Kindling Divine Fire in Prayer
Do you know Amma Syncletica? With this being the year of prayer, I want to feature different people throughout 2018 who lived lives of prayer. Beside exploring spiritual practices here at Healthy Spirituality, I love to present various people of faith who lives hold lessons for us and words give insight to our own spiritual journeys. Meet Amma Syncletica – our featured person of faith for February. She is one of the best-known Desert Mothers. The Desert Mothers and Fathers lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries. As Christianity became accepted as an approved faith and no longer opposed by the governments, Christians continued to hunger for a deeper relationship with God. Groups of men and women lived in the desert or just outside of the cities in the Middle East and became known as the Desert Mothers and Fathers. Many of them lived like hermits, living in caves but did gather into communities periodically. Others sought them out to learn from them so many of them were rarely … [Read more...]
Why Pray – Completion
Why do you pray? This has been the theme we have been exploring in February in our year long discussion about prayer. Today is the completion of Why Pray and is also the one of the reasons to pray – in order to be complete. 2018 is the year of prayer here on the Healthy Spirituality blog and last month we explore the definitions of prayer. Each month this year on the Tending the Holy Thursdays there will be a focus on an aspect of prayer and of course a monthly free download. On my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore deeper. I call this series Tending the Holy Thursdays. This month we've looked into our reasons to pray. I am excited about this month’s free download “40 Bible Verses about Prayer,” You can get this resource free by clicking on the button at the end of this post. I hope these verses help you explore the many reasons why we pray. We began this series by looking at why we pray by pondering how we are both commanded to pray and called, … [Read more...]
Why Pray? – Centering and Communing
Why do you pray? Knowing why we pray deepens our prayer life and helps us hear God. 2018 is the year of prayer here on the Healthy Spirituality blog and last month we explore the definitions of prayer. Each month this year on the Tending the Holy Thursdays there will be a focus on an aspect of prayer and of course a monthly free download. On my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore deeper. I call this series Tending the Holy Thursdays. This month let's look at why we pray. I am excited about this month’s free download “40 Bible Verses about Prayer,” You can get this resource free by clicking on the button at the end of this post. I hope these verses help you explore the many reasons why we pray. Last Thursday we began looking at why we pray by pondering how we are both commanded to pray and called, invited to talk, and listen with God. Why Pray – Connecting One reason I pray is to connect with God. To unite with someone beyond myself. To deepen this … [Read more...]
Creating a Lenten Sacred Space at Home
A few years ago, I created a sacred space, a home altar, near the chair where I pray. I wrote about it on a blog post called "3 Steps for Creating a Sacred Space at Home." Last week I read this article called "Creating a Lenten Prayer Space at Home" and was inspired to rearrange my home sacred space to help create a prayer filled environment for the special season of Lent that begins tomorrow. Items in a Lenten Sacred Space Mark 15:16-20 I found a purple cloth for my altar. Purple is the color of Lent. Black used to be the color associated with Lent since purple dye was so expensive to reproduce. Purple emerged as the color of royalty. We are remembering Jesus is our King and Savior. Purple now represents mourning as we ponder the sacrifice of Christ. “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began … [Read more...]
Why Pray? Called and Commanded
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche "Know Your Why" was the recent topic at my Weight Watcher meeting. The leader challenged us not to just quickly find the answer to the question "Why do we want to lose weight?" but to sit with that question for a while, allowing a variety of answers to emerge. She kept asking Why is that your why, then encouraging us to dig even deeper exploring the why behind every why. This probing into our why's helped us articulate and describe our deepest desire for being healthier and inspired us to keep motivated even in difficult times. 2018 is the year of prayer here on the Healthy Spirituality blog and last month we explore the definitions of prayer. Each month this year on the Tending the Holy Thursdays there will be a focus on an aspect of prayer and of course a monthly free download. On my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore deeper. I call this series Tending the Holy Thursdays. This … [Read more...]
2018 Lessons – Word and Art Expressions
What lessons have you learned so far in 2018? According to researchers, people quit more than 80% of all New Year resolutions by the second week in February. I find the weather so dreary this time of year in Ohio so to learn this about the month regarding failure compounds the depression. I don't like resolutions. The negativity of their collapse is one reason I call them goals instead. I list what I feel God is asking me to work on, to experience, to become in the coming 12 months and plan steps to work towards them throughout the year. Progress, not perfection. Two broad "goals" that I wrote about on this blog for this year is the Year of Reading and the Year of Creativity. I thought I would share an update on these two areas, hoping my small steps forward may inspire your goals too. 2018 Lessons - Year of Reading. Yes, I am reading more in 2018. I have discovered if I take the time to read 15-30 minutes in the morning, I absorb the information with more depth. The words linger … [Read more...]
The Positive Power of a Compliment
The positive power of a compliment can lift moods, bring a smile and even change a life. When someone says something nice to you about you doesn't that compliment light up your spirit and soothe your soul? January 24 is National Compliment Day. I had never heard of this holiday and think we need more than one day to say something nice about someone else, but at least for one day, we can focus on passing on a kind words. National Compliment Day Give a compliment and intentionally spread even more on National Compliment Day on January 24. A compliment is a positive and powerful encouragement. Kind words infuse confidence in a child and inspiration in adults. When we compliment another, they feel like someone notices them and feels accepted by them – a basic human need for us. And amazingly enough, even a small compliment goes a long way. National Compliment Day began in 1998 – so this year marks its 20th anniversary. Hey, that's a good idea and goal. Between now and … [Read more...]