My church changes the colors of the paramounts to correspond with the church calendar season. Right now purple drapes the altar, lectern and pulpit – purple announcing it is the Lenten season. Why is Purple the Color of Lent? Purple is typically associated with Lent, suggesting repentance and solemnity. Purple, as all colors, is full of symbolism. Its deep dark richness invites us to slow down and consider the sacrifices Jesus did for us. The Bible tells us that the garment the guard put on Jesus during his trial and beatings was purple. Thus, purple symbolizes pain, suffering, and mourning and penitence. “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, “Hail, king of the Jews!” Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spit on him. Falling on their … [Read more...]
Holding Tightly or Lightly?
Are you holding tightly or lightly? As I grow older, I want less stuff. I am decluttering my basement, my closets, my collections, and my life. I wrote about the weird-sounding new trend called Swedish Death Cleaning on this post and when I saw the following quote, I thought once again about living a life more unattached than attached and living in an age of accessing vs possessing. "A reporter for TechCrunch recently observed, “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provide, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.” Indeed, digital media exhibits a similar absence. Netflix, the world’s largest video hub, allows me to watch a movie without owning it. Spotify, the largest music streaming company, lets me listen to whatever music I want without owning any of it. Amazon’s Kindle … [Read more...]
Amma Syncletica – Kindling Divine Fire in Prayer
Do you know Amma Syncletica? With this being the year of prayer, I want to feature different people throughout 2018 who lived lives of prayer. Beside exploring spiritual practices here at Healthy Spirituality, I love to present various people of faith who lives hold lessons for us and words give insight to our own spiritual journeys. Meet Amma Syncletica – our featured person of faith for February. She is one of the best-known Desert Mothers. The Desert Mothers and Fathers lived in the 3rd and 4th centuries. As Christianity became accepted as an approved faith and no longer opposed by the governments, Christians continued to hunger for a deeper relationship with God. Groups of men and women lived in the desert or just outside of the cities in the Middle East and became known as the Desert Mothers and Fathers. Many of them lived like hermits, living in caves but did gather into communities periodically. Others sought them out to learn from them so many of them were rarely … [Read more...]
Why Pray – Completion
Why do you pray? This has been the theme we have been exploring in February in our year long discussion about prayer. Today is the completion of Why Pray and is also the one of the reasons to pray – in order to be complete. 2018 is the year of prayer here on the Healthy Spirituality blog and last month we explore the definitions of prayer. Each month this year on the Tending the Holy Thursdays there will be a focus on an aspect of prayer and of course a monthly free download. On my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore deeper. I call this series Tending the Holy Thursdays. This month we've looked into our reasons to pray. I am excited about this month’s free download “40 Bible Verses about Prayer,” You can get this resource free by clicking on the button at the end of this post. I hope these verses help you explore the many reasons why we pray. We began this series by looking at why we pray by pondering how we are both commanded to pray and called, … [Read more...]
Struggling with Balanced vs. Unbalanced Living
I struggle with the words balanced vs. unbalanced. My unrealistic expectation is to live a life fully balanced and reject the stress of being unbalanced. I've been journaling about these words and listening to God for insight and guidance with juggling these oppositions. Last week I heard a terrible noise. While doing the weekly wash, the load became unbalanced. In my morning rush I jammed quite a few items into the tub, thinking it would be ok. At first my washer tossed, thumped, and tried its best to shift the clothes into a reasonable jumble. Then it just stopped. "I'm done," it said. "I can't move and won't move anymore until you adjust my load." Here is the display: I wish I had a control button like my washer. One that would flash a cautionary sign that I am getting into overload with projects, commitments, and responsibilities. My Internal Balance vs Unbalance Toggle I did correct the weight of the clothes in the washer and she happily went back to her … [Read more...]
Why Pray? – Centering and Communing
Why do you pray? Knowing why we pray deepens our prayer life and helps us hear God. 2018 is the year of prayer here on the Healthy Spirituality blog and last month we explore the definitions of prayer. Each month this year on the Tending the Holy Thursdays there will be a focus on an aspect of prayer and of course a monthly free download. On my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore deeper. I call this series Tending the Holy Thursdays. This month let's look at why we pray. I am excited about this month’s free download “40 Bible Verses about Prayer,” You can get this resource free by clicking on the button at the end of this post. I hope these verses help you explore the many reasons why we pray. Last Thursday we began looking at why we pray by pondering how we are both commanded to pray and called, invited to talk, and listen with God. Why Pray – Connecting One reason I pray is to connect with God. To unite with someone beyond myself. To deepen this … [Read more...]
Creating a Lenten Sacred Space at Home
A few years ago, I created a sacred space, a home altar, near the chair where I pray. I wrote about it on a blog post called "3 Steps for Creating a Sacred Space at Home." Last week I read this article called "Creating a Lenten Prayer Space at Home" and was inspired to rearrange my home sacred space to help create a prayer filled environment for the special season of Lent that begins tomorrow. Items in a Lenten Sacred Space Mark 15:16-20 I found a purple cloth for my altar. Purple is the color of Lent. Black used to be the color associated with Lent since purple dye was so expensive to reproduce. Purple emerged as the color of royalty. We are remembering Jesus is our King and Savior. Purple now represents mourning as we ponder the sacrifice of Christ. “The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace (that is, the Praetorium) and called together the whole company of soldiers. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began … [Read more...]
Why Pray? Called and Commanded
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” Friedrich Nietzsche "Know Your Why" was the recent topic at my Weight Watcher meeting. The leader challenged us not to just quickly find the answer to the question "Why do we want to lose weight?" but to sit with that question for a while, allowing a variety of answers to emerge. She kept asking Why is that your why, then encouraging us to dig even deeper exploring the why behind every why. This probing into our why's helped us articulate and describe our deepest desire for being healthier and inspired us to keep motivated even in difficult times. 2018 is the year of prayer here on the Healthy Spirituality blog and last month we explore the definitions of prayer. Each month this year on the Tending the Holy Thursdays there will be a focus on an aspect of prayer and of course a monthly free download. On my Thursday posts, I pick one theme (or person of faith) to explore deeper. I call this series Tending the Holy Thursdays. This … [Read more...]