Practice of the Presence is a new translation of the writings by and about Brother Lawrence. Carmen Acevedo Butcher is the author and I love the way she works with his words and brings them alive in our century. She includes her notes, so the reader also has a deeper understanding of her reasons for choices for translation. I have known about Brother Lawrence for quite a while, yet this new book animated his spirituality. I highlighted, journaled, and took copious notes. I didn’t just read this book, its practices seeped into my life. Brother Lawrence, birth name of Nicolas Herman, was born in1614. He lived in the time of the Thirty-Year War (when he was injured, a disability that he suffered with the rest of his life), bubonic plagues, poverty, and famine. When he was 18, he received “a profound awareness of God’s kindness and power there never left his soul.” He failed as a monk, but re-entered a monastery in Paris as a lay brother in 1640 when he received his new … [Read more...]
Empty
Empty. Simple thoughts stirring in my soul. Empty is a word unfolding in my heart lately. Holding space within me and for what will be, not full of my plans and to do’s. I become an empty cup. Empty of me.Empty of words.Empty in anticipation.Empty to receive. “God cannot fill what is full. He can fill only emptiness – deep poverty – and your “yes” [to Jesus] is the beginning of being or becoming empty. It is not how much we really “have” to give – but how empty we are – so that we can receive fully in our life and let him live his life in us. In you today – he wants to relive his complete submission to his father – allow him to do so. Take away your eyes from yourself and rejoice that you have nothing.” Mother Theresa I suppose being empty could also imply spiritual drying, times of not experiencing God. Loneliness. Fear. But this time empty is more of an invitation to feast, not a wilderness to wander. To be loved, not lost. More God, not me or the world. Letting … [Read more...]
Mid-Year Check-up
We have hit the mid-year point in 2023 – time for a check-up. Maybe a better word would be check-in as in assessing your inner self where are you, where you wanted to be, and where you are heading. Many of our yearly goals have long disappeared and lie in a pile of “I’ll get to that later” and “I know at the end of the year, I will regret not at least trying.” But I am a goal setter and do attempt to grow and accomplish what I set out to do. Guess it’s my nature or my paranoia. HA! But the end of June issues an invitation to each of us to pause and take a look. To evaluate and possibly realign our trajectory for the rest of 2023. To celebrate, adjust, forgive, and move forward with life. Goal Check-Up Yes I am strange when it comes to goals. I print them out. I divide them into quarters. I hang the sheets up on the wall by my desk. Then I only glance at them periodically. But I don’t give up. Or least I keep dreaming. I know I won’t … [Read more...]
Forgiveness – A Complex, Challenging, and Heavy Practice
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...]