Today is the Feast of the Visitation that commemorates the Virgin Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth when May was pregnant with Jesus and when Elizabeth was pregnant with John the Baptist, which was a truly joyful and unique event. We see Mary responding to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to set out on a mission of charity. She shows us what it means to love our neighbor and that we aren’t meant to go it alone.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-Two. Gentleness. Living for Mission.”On what is the whole of your life built? Is your foundation currently strong? Do you follow a blueprint to build or maintain a solid foundation? As I walk the spiritual path, I’m learning the importance of applying Jesus’ teachings. As we see in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:21, “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and buffeted the house. But it did not collapse.”
Continue reading “Week Twenty-Two. Gentleness. My Blueprint.”Where along your path today have you seen the gentle face of grace? For starters, I’ve been given another day of life to touch others and to live as my best self. Living life to its fullest is marked by loving well and this is my resurrection story.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-Two. Gentleness. Face of Grace.”Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.
Victor Frankel
Recently Brene Brown talked about the need for creating space. It was helpful for me to see the quote above as a formula which could look like S( )R. I, along with Brene, didn’t grow up with the understanding or even awareness of this space. Brene says, “ I grew up with the R starting before the S was even done. Something happened, someone did or said something, and I’d come out swinging or fearing or worrying or apologizing. No space. No choosing a response. Hell, not even the parentheses. Just responding in a way that led to more stacked stimuli and responses. There was very little growth and very little freedom.”
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Hopeful. Looking for God’s Goodness and Weekly Reflection Summary.”One of the most paradoxical things about humans is that our enormous capacity for generosity and selfless love is matched by an astounding capacity for cruelty, greed, and destructiveness. To be human is to carry the seeds of great good and great evil, great light and great darkness, great creativity and great destructiveness. For every Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King we have one Joseph Stalin or Adolf Hitler. For every person squandering their life on spreading love, we have those who destroy their own lives and those of countless others as they spread hatred and destruction. It is tempting to think in binary terms about good and evil but I must understand that the capacity of both good and evil lies within me.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. It’s a Choice.”How do you find God’s presence in the day-to-day moments of your life? For me, it is slowing down and allowing time for space. Space not to be filled, but space to just be. To notice, reflect, and listen. This builds my trust and confidence in divine providence, allowing me to surrender to my part in God’s plan: to love God, myself, and my neighbor. Keeping God at the center helps keep me straight in how well I love and bear the fruit of kindness.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. Ever Present.”When my heart is full of love and hope, there is no room for fear. My faith draws me into gratitude and abundance and away from despair. But I am keenly aware that there are many paths to follow that lead to the same end. We need a good guide to lead us, to show us the way, the truth, and the life. The Spirit which lives in our hearts guides us in loving kindness, showing us the path to our best selves which is living in wholeness. When we cooperate with the Spirit, we allow God’s much needed light to shine in our soul-sucking world.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. No Room for Fear.”Living the spiritual life is to allow space -space for what the Spirit brings to the moment. As I’m growing in wholeness, I allow room for the space for presence and listening. I don’t feel the need to fix or change the person in front of me, or offer unwelcome suggestions. I can just be alongside those in my path in love and kindness.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. Kind Words.”There is a simple way to see if I am living in a place of loving myself. Am I making good, life-giving choices for myself, stoking the fires within to bring my best self to the world? Are my thoughts, words, and actions kind? If not, I need to adjust my heart.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. Good Measure.”To show mercy means to have compassion for someone who should be punished or could be treated harshly. It means showing undeserved forgiveness or kindness. Mercy is given by a person in authority, who is also often the one who has been wronged. To show mercy is to offer relief to someone in a miserable state.
Continue reading “Week Twenty-One. Kindness. Extreme Kindness.”
Smitten With Goodness 