Ever wonder about wonder? Wonder is September’s Tending the Holy Thursday theme. Each month on my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore in depth over several weeks. Each month I also include a free download to accompany the month’s topic. This month I have for you a resource called “10 Ways to Wake Up your Wonder.” This printable is available at no cost by clicking the button at the end of this post. Enjoy! What is wonder? A good place to start is exploring definitions. Take a moment and think about it. What other words come to mind? Awe Fear Amazement Astonishment Beyond Words Reverence Marvel What would you add? According to the dictionary, this experience is “a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable." Another way of saying this is: "rapt attention or astonishment at something awesomely mysterious or new to one's … [Read more...]
Fueling Our Faith Through Prayer Journaling
Have you tried prayer journaling? I am an avid journal keeper and I fully understand this is not everyone’s favorite practice. But writing our prayers in a journal can be a wonderful spiritual discipline. At the very least, this practice records our prayers. Why Write Out Our Prayers in Prayer Journaling? Writing helps us to articulate our relationship with God. We find the words to express our concerns and even our faith when writing them out on the pages. Gives us a place and process to organize our thoughts. I often see themes emerge as I write. What a safe place to explore our hopes, dreams, fears, joys, and concerns. Provides a record for my answered prayer and for insights over time as we pray. Keeps prayers and conversations with God we have so they’re not forgotten I hear myself in my journal – so often our voice is drowned out by the noise of the world and my own internal chattering I miss my true desires and what God is whispering to me. Sometimes I am … [Read more...]
17 Powerful Quotes about Community
Community – Community has been the August’s Tending the Holy Thursday theme. Each month on my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore in depth over several weeks. The past three weeks, we have explored this topic by looking at the spiritual practice of community, how to build community through questions and listening, and ideas about living with community in times of conflict and confusion. Today I am sharing quotes about community. Pick one or two to take into your prayers. Copy them into your journal and write out how the words resonate/challenge you. Bring one quote to a small group or when you have dinner with friends for discussion. 17 Quotes about Community I know there is strength in the differences between us. I know there is comfort, where we overlap. Ani DiFranco With all things and in all things, we are relatives. Native American (Sioux) Proverb We were born to unite with our fellow men, and to join in community with the human … [Read more...]
SLOW
SLOW – say the word aloud. Slow glides leisurely from our mouths like the dawdling drip of Ketchup from a new bottle. Even the last syllable – the W – becomes a deep exhale if spoken in a long drawn out measure. NOTE: I tried to post this article earlier today and it kept sending you to another page. sorry. Some crazy tech issue. I am reposting and taking a few things out so see if that helps. Thanks for being patient. I am learning slow in a new way. LOL In the discussions in this blog, with my spiritual direction clients, and among friends, everyone complains about the hurriedness of our society. The rush of instant messaging, the impatience waiting for our coffee to heat up for one minute in the microwave, and the disbelief summer is almost gone. I saw a post this morning on Facebook reminding us to start shopping – only 125 days till Christmas. Yesterday many of us breathed in the majesty of the solar eclipse. My hubby and I lingered in our driveway, chatting with … [Read more...]
Building Community Even in Times of Conflict
Community – Community is August’s Tending the Holy Thursday theme. Each month on my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore in depth over several weeks. The past two weeks, we have explored this topic by looking at the spiritual practice of community and how to build community through questions and listening. Today let’s talk about community when it is difficult – in times of conflict and confusion Each month I also include a free download to accompany the month’s topic. Since I am an introvert and find creating, dealing, and being in community challenging at times, I created a one page “The Introvert’s Guide to Community,” with 15 ideas how to practice this spiritual discipline. This PDF is available at no cost by clicking the button at the end of this post. Building Community in Times of Conflict Living in community isn’t always easy. People are not perfect and we are not always the cause of difficulty but being honest, many times we contribute to the … [Read more...]
Building Community Through Questions and Listening
Community – Community is August’s Tending the Holy Thursday theme. Each month on my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore in depth over several weeks. Last week we began to explore this topic by looking at the spiritual practice of community. How can we build community? Two ways is through the power of asking questions and active listening. Each month I also include a free download to accompany the month’s topic. Since I am an introvert and find creating, dealing, and being in community challenging at times, I created a one page “The Introvert’s Guide to Community,” with 15 ideas how to practice this spiritual discipline. This PDF is available at no cost by clicking the button at the end of this post. Building Community through Questions As an introvert, I use to hate small talk. I didn’t know how to engage the other person or where to even begin. My anxiety rose in group settings where the expectation was for conversations and “getting to know … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Practice of Community
Community – this was the surprise answer from many of you when I asked last year on my annual readers survey this question: What spiritual practice would you like to learn more about? I expected and did hear the answers such as prayer, slowing down to be with God and how to hear God. I never thought creating community would be checked off as often as it did. Let’s talk about this topic this month as August’s Tending the Holy Thursday series. Each month on my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore. Each month I also include a free download to accompany the month’s topic. Since I am an introvert and find creating, dealing, and being in community challenging at times, I created a one page “The Introvert’s Guide to Community,” with 15 ideas how to practice this spiritual discipline. This PDF is available at no cost by clicking the button at the end of this post. Be sure to sign up to get Healthy Spirituality in your inbox, so you don’t miss any of the … [Read more...]
The Spiritual Practice of Honoring Milestones
We have been planning for more than a year now. This coming Sunday our church is celebrating a major milestone: 150 years of worshipping God. The pews will be packed. Music sung. God praised. Friendship reconnected. Too much food consumed. Memories cherished. A moment to recognize, affirm and honor. Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead. Nelson Mandela Thinking about Milestones This celebration stirred my pondering about milestones. Milestones are significant markers in our life journey. We stop, name and hold that moment in a sacred way, then move onward into the future. Milestones offer us a chance to reflect, rest, and release. Many milestones are joyous times but they can also be times of sadness and loss. We say goodbye to the past and turn the page to a new chapter. The word milestone dates to the Romans. They built more than 53,000 miles of roads throughout their empire so every 1000 paces or about 4800 feet, a stone marker was … [Read more...]