Soul Care Soul care? How do you take care of your soul? I believe health is multidimensional. Most of the time we think about our physical health when we consider wellness and beneficial activities for our health. Occasionally we consider our mental and emotional health and may at least once a year on April 15th ponder our financial health. How do you practice caring for your soul? With intention? With regularity? With daring risks of leaps out of your comfort zone? Or even the small steps of living each day in love with God? What is soul? It's like electricity - we don't really know what it is, but it's a force that can light a room. Ray Charles 7 Days of Soul Care 7 Days of Soul Care - A Guide to Letting God Do the Extraordinary with Your Ordinary by Dolly Lee is just now being released and is a wonderful, simple book to help you focus on taking care of your spiritual health. This book will accompany me on my next retreat or could be used as a daily devotion. … [Read more...]
Do You Tend or Ignore the Sabbath?
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Exodus 20:8 Sabbath. Do you tend, celebrate, honor a day weekly or do you ignore, neglect, and forget this command from God? To be honest, I am not a good Sabbath keeper. I know, I know it is only one day is set aside to honor God, but I know myself and I am not fully remembering to honor that day. Like the practice of hospitality which I share a few months ago, this is another spiritual discipline I get a failing grade in. Tending to this topic will be a remedial lesson for me – I hope you join in the exploration. In November, we will be exploring Sabbath as part of Healthy Spirituality’s Tending the Holy Thursday series that highlights a spiritual practice or a person(s) of faith for several weeks so we can explore the topic with more depth. It is my hope and prayer we all can learn something new, gain ideas, and be motivated to dig deeper into this practice. As usual with each month’s theme, I have an additional FREE download … [Read more...]
Monthly Musings –What I Learned in October
Monthly Musings Each month I pause and take a look back at what I am discovering, learning, and exploring in life – I call these my monthly musings. I believe strongly in living a reflective life as a spiritual practice. We rush through life, often missing the lessons, enjoying the highlights and sleeping through what we should be paying attention to. Capturing these special moments gives meaning, depth, and delight to life. Let’s wake up to the wonders in the ordinary all around us. I record what I notice on the pages of my Monthly Musing Journal. You can use anything, scrapes of papers, a journal or a calendar. Copies of my Monthly Musing Journal are available on Amazon and are a convenient way to keep track of the little things in life we often miss. Or if you want to click the button at the end of this post to get a free copy of my one sheet Monthly Musing handout. October Monthly Musings Lessons Learned The trees light up with fire here in northwest Ohio in … [Read more...]
Who was Marguerite Porete?
Who was Marguerite Porete? Last week we met two Beguines, Hadewijch and Mechthild. This week Marguerite Porete is coming for a visit. In October, we have been exploring who the Beguines were and been learning about several of the women whose names we know from history. This is part of Healthy Spirituality’s Tending the Holy Thursday series that highlights a spiritual practice or a person(s) of faith for several weeks, so we can explore the topic with more depth. You can check out the first post in the Beguine series here to catch up on the history about this fascinating group of Christian women from the 1300’s and then last week’s Beguine women here. As usual with each month’s theme, I have an additional FREE download for you. I created something different this month: a fun word search using words describing the Beguines. You can get this freebie by clicking on the button at the end of this post. Who was Marguerite Porete? Born in France in 1250 and is known as a Christian … [Read more...]
Quotes to Ponder
I love reading quotes to ponder. If you have been reading Healthy Spirituality for very long, you know I love quotes – concise bits of wisdom - to breath into our souls and meditate in our mind. I have been writing some long posts lately and think a shorter one is in order. How about some quotes to ponder today? The following words have been lingering in my heart lately and stirring up conversation between my deeper self and with God: Without faith there would be little meaning in my life. I should be ‘a mere pillar of darkness in the dark.’ Observers in the full enjoyment of their bodily senses pity me, but it is because they do not see the golden chamber in my life where I dwell delighted; for, dark as my path may seem to them, I carry a magic light in my heart. Faith, the spiritual strong searchlight, illumines the way, and although sinister doubts lurk in the shadow, I walk unafraid towards the Enchanted Wood where the foliage is always green, where joy abides, where … [Read more...]
Who were Hadewijch and Mechthild?
Who were Hadewijch and Mechthild? Let’s meet these two Beguine women. Wait? Who are the Beguines? You can check out last week’s post here to catch up on the history about this fascinating group of Christian women from the 1300’s. In October, we will be exploring who the Beguines were and learn more about several of the women who wrote and whose names we know from history. This is part of Healthy Spirituality’s Tending the Holy Thursday series that highlights a spiritual practice or a person(s) of faith for several weeks so we can explore the topic with more depth, As usual with each month’s theme, I have an additional FREE download for you. I created something different this month: a fun word search using words describing the Beguines. You can get this freebie by clicking on the button at the end of this post. And two of the answers on the word search are those strange names in the title of today’s post: Hadewijch and Mechthild. Let’s meet these two ladies and find the … [Read more...]
The Powerful Possibilities in Pondering Questions
The Powerful Possibilities in Pondering Questions Questions can be a powerful spiritual tool that helps us hear God, stretch and grow and stay alive, not dormant and stale. What are the powerful possibilities in pondering questions? For a long time, I thought life consisted of finding the answers and playing by those rules. I didn’t like the tension between knowing and the living in the gray area of unknowing. I used to seek the supremacy of feeling you are in control, having your act together, wearing the prettiest mask. 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 our comfort zones to enter the unfamiliar mystery of life and faith. As I gain the wisdom (HA!) of the second half of life, I am finding I like to stay with the questions longer – lingering in their unfolding. The green bud of curiosity and taking that second bite of an emotion or situation and allowing … [Read more...]
Who are the Beguines?
Who are the Beguines? I didn’t know about these women, collectively called the Beguines, until I began my spiritual direction education 12 years ago. Just today I had a conversation with a friend and we both shared that our knowledge of strong Christian women from our history is weak. I told her about the Beguines and just knew I had to feature them on this month’s Tending the Holy Thursdays. Tending the Holy Thursday highlights for several weeks a spiritual practice or a person(s) of faith, so we can explore the topic with more depth. For October, we will learn more about who the Beguines were, then dive deeper into several of the women who wrote and whose names we know. As usual with each month’s theme, I have an additional FREE download for you. I created something different this month: a fun wordsearch using words describing the Beguines. You can get this freebie by clicking on the button at the end of this post. Who are the Beguines? I could probably write a book … [Read more...]