Going on retreat is an essential spiritual discipline for me. Time for silence and learning informs the mind and forms the spirit. I leave refreshed, renewed, transformed – not quite the same as I arrived. If you are interested in learning more about retreats, I usually write a blog post about them several times a year. Just go to this sidebar on the right, enter “retreat” in the search button and you will find many, hopefully inspiring, posts here about this spiritual practice. I just returned from a four-day silent retreat and often get questions about what I experienced, learned, and heard. I spend the last day of retreat summarizing, harvesting my journal, emotions and lessons, then reread them once at home – a continual fountain of blessing. Retreat Recap Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,my memory, my understanding,and my entire will,All I have and call my own. You have given all to me.To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with … [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...]
Pondering the Pillars of a Healthy Spirituality – Humility
I humbly present the next pillar of a healthy spirituality - humility. I don’t hear cheers and loud applause for this virtue. I know I hesitated even to invite humility to come to this blog, but felt it had insights for our spiritual walk. 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. This is our second exploration of one of the characteristics of a healthy spirituality: humility and being humble. You can read about the first one. Be Awake, here. Be Humble Do you know this old song by Mac Davis? Oh Lord, it's hard to be humbleWhen you're perfect in every wayI can't wait to look in the mirror'Cause I get better lookin' each dayTo know me is to love meI must be a heck of a manOh Lord, it's hard to be … [Read more...]
Evelyn Underhill – My Frist Lamplighter for 2023
Evelyn Underhill is my first lamplighter for 2023. I heard the term Lamplighters from wisdom teacher mystic Cynthia Bourgeault who described the spiritual teachers in her life – both ancient and contemporary – as lamplighters, those lighting the way for her path. Each year I walk with a lamplighter and intentionally read and listen to their stories. So much wisdom and applications emerge that nourish my soul. Several key lamplighters are always around – Henri Nouwen, for example but each year a new one joins me for a walk. I never know how long they will accompany me but I try to take full advantage of their presence while they hang around. Evelyn Underhill’s Story Evelyn was born in 1875 in England and was a prolific and successful writer (39 books!) and poet in the early twentieth century. Living what we might think as an ordinary life she was an attorney’s wife, gardener, hostess and cat-lover. She was interested in history, botany, travel, and bookbinding. But she … [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...]