My backyard bursts with new growth. Tiny seedlings emerge through the dark earth with green eagerness and daily surprising transformations. Spring is a time of awakening. One section near the fence is covered with a multitude of small sprouts extending their teeny arms upward. It reminds me of baby birds all stretching their heads up, screaming feed me, feed me. As a gardener I see a problem in this area – I need to thin out these new growths for a healthier batch of flowers later in the summer. The dandelions are also quite healthy in my garden. With deep roots and bright yellow faces, they are the first to bloom. They taunt me: “Ha, see we are back again. No use trying to get rid of us. We will return to take over your precious garden bed!” Then there is the issue of “What is growing there anyway?” Is it a weed or will it be something I planted that I forgot? Do I let it grow and later regret not digging it out now? Or will it surprise me later? Decisions requiring answers … [Read more...]
Silent Listening
I love words so spending multiple days at a silent retreat draws me out of my comfort zone. But I have learned to value my annual silent retreats as deepening experience and nourishment to my soul. What are some of the benefits of entering into a grand silence to hear the whispers of God? Silent is a wonderful, yet challenging word. Mother Teresa said, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence. We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Use the word silent as an anagram. An anagram rearranges or unscrambles the letters of one word to create a new word. The result is: SILENT = LISTEN. Like an anagram, silent listening rearranges, unscrambles, reorganizes and reorders my spirit: Silent listening rearranges my thoughts, providing clarity and a new sense of direction and meaning. Silent listening … [Read more...]
The Good Shepherd
Treasures from the Spiritual Director International Conference – April 2015
Spiritual Directors International hosts a once a year conference. I was blessed to be able to attend this year for the event held in Louisville Kentucky. This year was extra special as the group was celebrating their 25th anniversary and the 100th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s birth. I felt like a treasure hunter for three days, seeking and finding wonderful gifts. Like a find banquet where I could feast. A soothing spa for my soul. Here are just a few of my notes: I walked a few blocks from the hotel to the busy intersection where Thomas Merton experienced his “epiphany” in 1958. “In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut (now called Muhammad Ali) in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be aliens to one another even though we were total strangers… There is no way to telling people that they are all walking around shining like the … [Read more...]
Help for the Overwhelmed
These past few weeks my schedule exploded into chaotic craziness. Though I love spring, this time of year overwhelms me as I tend to say yes to too many commitments. On top of all the madness, we leave this week for a highly anticipated vacation. I am sooooo ready… but sooooo behind… all at the same time. Stressed and scattered is my song. Do you know Sisyphus? In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was condemned for an eternity of rolling a boulder uphill then watching it roll back down again. That is how I feel about my endless to-do list. For every two items I scratch off the list, four more appear. I became acutely aware of this unsatisfactory and unrelenting tension when I attend last week the Spiritual Director International conference in Louisville Kentucky. I will write more about this wonderful interactive and peaceful conference on Thursday but wanted today to share with you the Tibetan Sand Mandela. Four Tibetan monks chanted and prayed – in the middle of the noisy book … [Read more...]
Questions – Lectio Divina
Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Luke 24: 38 Lord I have learned to listen to your questions. When reading your Holy Word and seeing you poise a query, I pause and ask them of myself. I allow them to sink under my thick skin and coat my heart. Why am I frightened? I didn’t even realize I was until you asked. I proudly perform on the world stage with the appearance of confidence and bravery. I deny my underlying fears and sweep them under the doormat of my soul. Yet when I stop and am honest, Lord, you are right. Those unnamed fears quiver within me, stop me from holy boldness and prevent me from living fully in your joy. The nameless fears sprout doubt and distraction. Not claiming them allows uncertainly and distrust of you to smolder. My heart burns not with your love, but with anger and frustration. Once I retrieve those fears – the ones you ask about – and put them into your hands, I am yours once again. When I am … [Read more...]
Five Tips for Finding Time with God
Many of us want to spend more time with God. We have good intentions. Start out strong. But after a few days or changes in schedules or sick kids or life in general, we forget/postpone/purposely choose to delete spending precious moments with God. I really do believe God understands this common human dilemma but I sincerely want and desire to spend more time with him. We don’t make time; we have difficulty in managing time. In reality we have no control over time nor the disruptions in life. Life happens. Our job is to be faithful and keep returning to God. I have been thinking about the difficulty in keeping my time with God. Life just interferes, interrupts and intercepts my mind and heart. Here are five tips/observations I have been considering when trying to find time with God. Make the intention anyway. Find your basic rhythm. I know when I start the day with God, the day goes better or at least I have a more peaceful attitude towards whatever comes my way. I love to … [Read more...]
Searching for Sunday – Book Review
Every once in awhile a book comes along that nourishes both the mind and the heart. Searching for Sunday – Loving, Leaving and Finding the Church – by Rachel Held Evans is one of those books. What I liked: I love reading material that makes me think. Words that haunt my thoughts throughout the day and help me clarify their meaning. Yet I don’t want to live just in my head – I also need fuel for my spirit and my heart – to grow in my passion and love of God. This book fits both needs. Searching for Sunday is a book about Rachel’s brave and vulnerable quest and exploration on what church means. She is honest with her doubts and difficulties and invites us to walk along with her. I love how she shares her stories. We have a God who loves to be with us – even in our struggling times and wants to hear from us. Shouldn’t the church be the same way? This book may challenge you, stretch you, but at the same time inspire you to articulate and clarify what church means to you. Be … [Read more...]