Month: April 2022

Finding God's Goodness

Week Seventeen. Patience. Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

Looking for God’s Goodness in contemplation and prayer. For a Type-A overachiever like me, patience doesn’t come without a lot of deep breathing, yoga, meditation, and instrumental new-age music. I have to actively remind myself to practice patience. When I feel myself getting impatient, I first ask myself, Is this situation within my control? If the answer is yes, then I actively try to change the situation, so it is less stressful for me.

If the answer is no, and I can’t seem to let the stress go, I move on to a breathing meditation like the following Breath of Patience.

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Seventeen: Patience. An Important Virtue

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

Do you ever feel like you have mastered the virtue of patience and then are taken by surprise and explode! The illusion of being the most patient person in the world just vaporized before your very eyes.  Patience is so important that Jesus Christ, our model in all virtues, said: “By your patience you will save your souls.” St. Augustine prayed in desperation: “Lord, give me patience and right now!”

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Seventeen: Patience. Peace of Heart

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

We all need a little patience. I’m learning that impatience is a key indicator that shows me that something within needs attention. Something is brewing in my heart.

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Seventeen: Patience. Awake Not Anaesthetized

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

The Christian’s journey toward wholeness in the image of Christ for the sake of others progresses by means of spiritual disciplines. The first stage of this journey is the awakening, or waking up to the fact of how unlike Christ I am.

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Seventeen: Patience. Gift of Discomfort

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

Me: “Life is pretty good!”

Also, me: “More! More! More!”

A friend recently articulated well my journey with life at times. When life is going well, I want more but this can keep me from living in the flow of God’s desires for me. God always wants good but good doesn’t always mean easy. In our undisciplined, comfort-seeking culture, it’s easy to get lulled into a false sense of reality. As I’ve matured both in life as well as spiritually, I realize that “no pain, no gain,” doesn’t just apply to my time in the gym. If I want to get better at something or achieve a difficult goal, it usually requires me moving out of my comfort zone.  It also requires moving into a space of suffering, maybe a little, or a lot. 

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Seventeen: Patience. Love

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

Love is patient is the first characteristic of God’s definition of love. For me, this gives me focus on how I am meant to love both myself and others.  When I lack patience with myself, I’m sending negative messages to the core of my being. I’m not being loving to the creature that God created in His image. 

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Sixteen. Wholeness. Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience

Looking for God’s Goodness in contemplation and prayer through A Simple Daily Practice, adapted from Rediscovering the Lost Body Connection with Christian Spirituality.

A Simple Daily Practice…

When awakening each morning ask yourself, “What in my body now most needs my loving presence?”

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Finding God's Goodness

Week Sixteen: Wholeness. Needing Attention

Smitten With Goodness
Month Four – Loving Myself. Fortitude with Faith produces patience.

What in your life needs attention at this moment?   Is it your body, mind or soul? Do I turn toward or away from the pain? How I view and know God frames how I view life. My relationship with God allows me to see my true self.

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