Image via WikipediaToday is the Summer Solstice.I am a summer person. This is MY time of year. I like the weather hot, the sun shining, and the flowers blooming.I come alive in summer.Today is the first day of MY season (ok, not MY season, I will share it. LOL)Though much of summer solstice originates from pagan, pre-Christian history, I found some fun and thought provoking tidbits about this celebration to share. These facts enriched my prayers this week:· "Solstice" is derived from two Latin words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. This is because, as the summer solstice approaches, the noonday sun rises higher and higher in the sky on each successive day. On the day of the solstice, it rises an imperceptible amount, compared to the day before. In this sense, it "stands still." Lord, help me to stand still. You tell us tenderly, “Be still and know I am God.” Just as the sun obeys You in this command, I pause in Your sacred stillness. As the sun rises … [Read more...]
Wake me up, Lord – Lectio Divina
Image by stewickie via FlickrThen Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it." Genesis 28:16 (ESV)Wake me up, Lord!Rouse me like Jacob from my slumber.Once fully alert, I know I will see You and know You are with me.But I squeeze my eyes shut to avoid Your light that will expose my brokenness.My eyelids are heavy with the weight of the world.I try to arouse by myself, but my foggy mind drifts back to the grayness of only partial existence.Shake me from my sluggish complacency and carelessness.Even with eyes wide open I fail to see You present.It is only through Your gift of faith I know Your presence.Thank You for watching over me as I sleepwalk through life and blindly navigate its twists and turns.With Your strong and spiritual stirring, my soul soars to perceive Your presence.Wake me up Lord. … [Read more...]
God’s Gift Within Us – Quote of the Week – Richard Rohr
“Why do we have this gift and yet not realize it? Perhaps God does not want to force anything on us that we do not actually desire or choose for ourselves. So a lovely dance ensues between God and the soul that preserves freedom on both sides.“The gift is objectively already within, and yet has to be desired and awakened by the person. Faith is often clarified and joy-filled hindsight – after we have experienced our experiences. But the path ahead still demands walking in trust, risk, and various degrees of darkness. “We are always and forever the conduits, the instruments, the tuning fork, the receiver stations. We slowly learn the right frequencies that pick up the signal. The core task of all good spirituality is to teach us to ‘cooperate’ with what God already wants to do and had already begun to do. In fact, nothing good would even enter our mind unless in the previous moment God had not already moved within us. We are always and forever merely seconding the motion.”The Naked Now … [Read more...]
Community: Making a Soul-Connection: Guest Post by June Maffin
I wrote a post earlier this month about the importance of cultivating connections in life. (click here to read that post) A fellow writer and internet friend, June Maffin, sent me a very kind email in response and shared a similar post she wrote in 2010. She graciously allowed me to share her words with you today.Dr. June (Mack) Maffin was raised in Montreal and presently lives on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. She has just completed her third book: “Soulistry-Artistry of the Soul: Creative Ways to Nurture your Spirituality.” I reviewed her latest book earlier this year. click here for review.Soulistry is available in both paperback and e-book format through www.amazon.com and local booksellers. Check out her web site too.Thank you, June, for being here today and sharing your words:Community: Making a Soul-ConnectionI first heard the words from Sarah in a small northern Alaskan village where I was serving as a consultant with the Episcopal Church. The tiny, elderly, … [Read more...]
Spiritual Legacy
We visited friends this weekend and drove through some historical old cemeteries in Southeast Ohio. We guessed at some of the markings as the engraved words on many of the tombstones disintegrated into the stones.MotherSonDates long forgotten.A few last words:My best friendLoved us allA favorite Bible verseWe discussed that night what we would want as an epitaph. Yes we got a little silly, giggling about the famous, funny one: I told you that I was sick!Image via WikipediaJune 14 is the birth date of Harriet Beecher Stowe. I read her tombstone reads: Tears are often the telescope by which men see far into heaven. She left us another type of legacy in her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin, often call the match that lit the American Civil War and ended slavery in the U.S. Her words brought national attention to the evils of slavery.One story tells of when she met Abraham Lincoln he supposedly said, “So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!”Interesting facts … [Read more...]
Quiet Me, Lord – Lectio Divina
Quiet me with Your love. Zephaniah 3:17Quiet me.Quiet me with Your love, Lord.Let me rest in Your strong, yet gentle arms.What a prayer to breathe in and out throughout the day. Quiet me with Your love, Lord.When the noise of the world blares, calm me with tender compassion.When I am tossed and turned by my own self-doubt and misdirections, I return once again to You – where You dwell in peaceful silence.When the toddler that still lives deep inside me, throws a tantrum when things don’t go my way or I hit disappointment at every turn, take me in Your arms and comfort me, Lord.Quiet me, Lord so I can hear You and know You better. Only You can I find true peace.Only You can I experience love.Only You, Lord.Quiet me with Your love, Lord. … [Read more...]
Worship God, not Emotions – Quote of the Week – Gerald May
“Teresa and John both say that we easily become so attached to feelings of and about God that we equate them with God. We forget that these sensations are only speaking to us of the divine One. They are only messengers. Instead, we take them for the whole of God’s self, and thus we wind up worshiping our own feelings. This is perhaps the most common idolatry of the spiritual life.” Gerald G. May, M.D. Dark Night of the Soul … [Read more...]
More Spiritual Nourishment
How do you recharge your spirit when you feel depleted? I spoke this week at two events where pastors shared with one another their need to for their own spiritual nourishment while walking with others on their journeys. Pastors often take care of others before themselves, become overwhelmed by multiple demands, and face fatigue and stressors that drain their souls. Like all of us, even pastors need to intentionally cultivate an inner life with Christ.I gave them this image:Most of us have flown in an airplaneYou know the drill: Fasten your seat belts. Find the exits. In the case of a sudden change in air pressure in the cabin, oxygen masks will drop from the compartment above you.Then they say something interesting and I bet you can say it word by word with me: “if you are with a young child or someone who may need help, put the mask on yourself first, then help the other person.”Oxygen is vital. You can’t help someone else with this essential life giving force without first … [Read more...]