F stands for forgiveness. Forgiveness is a pillar of a healthy spirituality. In 2023 I plan to explore different building blocks, components, the essential nutrients that support a vibrant strong life with God. I hope to learn, study, and share thoughts about these various aspects and hope they bring fresh insights to all of our earthly journeys as God continues to shape our souls. I am also participating in a yearlong “Reading the Sacred in Everyday Life” program by SpiritualityandPractice.com. Each week we study an alphabet practice through readings, movie clips, discussion, presentations, quotes, poems and many other rich thought-provoking and heart-stretching words. This site actually offers 37 practices, so some letters are repeated twice. F stood for faith. F also represented forgiveness. Faith appears easy at first, but the readings burrowed new perspectives deep into my being. But forgiveness pushed me into uncomfortable realities of wounds long buried and concepts … [Read more...]
What’s Saving My Life Right Now?
What’s saving my life right now? Now. At this present moment. What is life-giving, uplifting, refreshing and stirring my spirit? What’s saving my life right now is a question Emily Freeman (A true mentor of mine) asks frequently. She discovered this question in a book by Barbara Brown Taylor (another mentor of mine!) in her book, Leaving Church. Taylor shares the story of being a guest speaker at an event. When she asked for her topic, this was her host’s request: “Tell us what is saving your life right now.” These words invite us to pause, reflect, and savor what is giving us life at this moment. When I relistened to Emily’s podcast and what she was noticing in her life, that question dug deep into my soul. What is saving my life right now? What’s Saving My Life? Journaling – I know writing in a journal isn’t for everyone but wrestling with words to express my prayers, my desires, my longings, my hurts brings me healing and draws me closer to God. This is an … [Read more...]
Be Curious – Pondering the Pillars of a Healthy Spirituality
What are the pillars of a healthy spirituality? In 2023 I am exploring different building blocks, components, the essential nutrients that support a vibrant strong life with God. I hope to learn, study, and share thoughts about these various aspects and hope they bring fresh insights to all of our earthly journeys as God continues to shape our souls. This is our third exploration of one of the characteristics of a healthy spirituality. You can read about the others, being awake and being humble here and here. This week I am sharing interesting and curious quotes and insights about curiosity. Quotes “When you’re curious you find lots of interesting things to do.” Walt Disney “If you can let go of passion and follow your curiosity, your curiosity just might lead you to your passion.” Elizabeth Gilbert "Be curious, not judgmental.” Walt Whitman “I think, at a child's birth, if a mother could ask a fairy godmother to endow it with the most useful gift, that … [Read more...]
Are You Sure?
Are you sure? A friend asked me this question the other day and I paused. I love the power of questions (read about questions on these blog posts, here and here.) and use them as guides in my spiritual journey. I have learned the spiritual practice of listening, playing, wrestling when I hear or read them. Questions provide growth, direction, and fuel our curiosity that leads to new ideas and insights. Problems that seem at one time insurmountable now have possible solutions. Answers lure us into comfort ruts while questions energize us to explore deeper and newer horizons. Are you sure? I was surprised when this question exposed some uncomfortable emotions within me. Doubt, anger, second guessing. Was this the right step for me? Why drench this move with suspicion? I was ready to move forward and now am engulfed with misgivings. Questions leave us unsettled and searching. Questions magnify what we already know that we don’t know and are not in control. Questions rouse us from … [Read more...]
Four Somethings – March 2023
Four Somethings is the spiritual practice of remembering, reviewing, and savoring life’s lessons and sacred moments in our lives. So occasionally I share bits of wisdom in four categories. Gathering Four Somethings makes me aware of all the blessings often hidden under busyness, worries, and distractions. 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. Something Wise “Holiness comes wrapped in the ordinary. There are burning bushes all around you. Every tree is full of angels. Hidden beauty is waiting in every crumb. Life wants to lead you from crumbs to angels, But this can happen only if you are willing to unwrap the ordinary By staying with it long enough to harvest its treasure.” Macrina Wiederkehr Something Wonderful I was studying the spiritual discipline of seeing beauty and learned a new to me … [Read more...]
Taking My Word of the Year on Retreat
I leave later this week for a four-day silent retreat. The practice of attending a retreat at least yearly is life-giving for me and essential for my walk with God. I believe so strongly in this discipline I share a blog post every year about retreats (here are a few here and here) and even wrote a book, Spiritual Retreats: A Guide to Slowing Down with God. Each year I remind myself to pack simply: just the essentials, my Bible, my journal, pretty pens and highlighters. I am careful not to bring along too many distracting books. Less stuff the better. The most important item to pack is an open and willing heart. My word of the year is one of those necessary items to bring along. Retreats create silent space to allow my word(s) room to be heard and known exponentially. Like a good soup, my word slowly simmers, revealing wonderful, unexpected tastes. Like a plant, its roots dig deeper and life springs up its stem to produce fruit. Spiritual retreats nourish and allow … [Read more...]
Ash Wednesday Facts and Quotes
I can’t believe it is almost time for Lent to begin. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday marking the first day of solemn repentance for most Christians as we turn our hearts and minds toward Good Friday. Then we can celebrate with full gusto on Easter Sunday. Ever wonder about Ash Wednesday? On Ash Wednesday, many churches hold a special worship service where the people are blessed with ashes, typically marking their foreheads with the sign of the cross. The blessing typically comes with a reminder that we all come from ashes, and to ashes we all will return. The ashes used on Ash Wednesday are meant to represent dust. When receiving ashes on their foreheads, the worshipper hears, "Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return." This is a reference what God says to Adam when exiling him from the Garden of Eden (in the Christian Bible, Adam is literally formed from dust). What a humbling reminder. The marking of the forehead has been a known custom since Pope Gregory … [Read more...]
Word of the Year – Peeling One Layer at a Time
Word of the year practice can be a driving force in deepening our self-knowledge, in finding clarity and meaning, and in growing closer to God. Peeling off the layers of our words takes intention, observation, reflection, and maybe some wrestling with our words. I just spent several hours in my journal and Bible exploring my phrase this year – “Honoring the thirst deep within.” I feel like I am coming up for air after concentrating and listening actively to what the Spirit is teaching me. John O’Donohue wrote, “Longing is the voice of your soul.” I am deeply listening for this voice. Like peeling an onion, this process comes off one sheer section at a time and perhaps with a few tears. And this is only the start of the unraveling of this adventure into these words. Right now, I hold more questions than answers – and maybe that will stay true throughout this process. Each layer contains lessons. A few tidbits of what I am noticing: Dear Friends, I hope this … [Read more...]