What crosses do you bear in your daily life? For me it is watching the suffering of a friend, thoughts that what I do is never enough, and the constant striving to always do better. Another cross is accepting, with humility, what it takes to live a life with the perils of an aging body. For another, it is carrying the grief of loss after loss and having the strength to seek joy.
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Five. Self-Control. The Crosses We Bear.”The most precious gift we can receive is wisdom. Wisdom is the source of blessings, a counselor and comfort and a gift of God. In her is a spirit of subtle intelligence, holiness, agile certainty leading us to love the good. Nothing is richer than wisdom who produces all things.
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Five. Self-Control. The Wisdom of Self-control.”A sculptor who wishes to carve a figure out of a block uses his chisel, first cutting away great chunks of marble, then smaller pieces, until he finally reaches a point where only a brush of hand is needed to reveal the figure.
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Five. Self-Control. Peace of Heart.”Self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit because of the Spirit’s work in us. We don’t become a Christian on our own and we cannot grow on our own. Every good thing we do is the fruit of the Spirit’s work in our lives. For a person who has prided herself on being “Miss Independent” most of her life, this has been a hard lesson to learn. My independence has served me well in matters of the world but less so in matters of the heart.
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Five. Self-Control. The Beauty of Self-Control.”Be still and know. A guided meditation on Psalm 46:10 by Henri Nouwen from the book Spiritual Direction.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still: Be quiet….Be silent….Be tranquil. Be present….Be now….Be here….
The first task of the disciple is to be with the Lord….to sit at His feet, to listen and to be attentive to all He says, does, and asks.
Our Lord is all we need and want….Our stronghold, our refuge, our shepherd, our wisdom. God cares for us, feeds us….gives us life….
Be still….It is hard….It means to let God speak to us….breathe in us….act in us….pray in us….Let God enter into the most hidden parts of our being….let God touch us even there where it may hurt us and cause us pain….
To be still is to trust….to surrender….to let go….to have faith.
Be still….God is and God acts….not once in a while….not on special occasions….but all the time….Be still and listen to the one who speaks to you always, feel the actions of the one who acts always….and taste the presence of the one who is present always.
Know: Come to know….real knowledge….full intimate knowing.
A form of diagnosis….a knowing through and through. A knowing with the heart, a knowing by heart….Be still and know. Come to that still knowledge. There is a very restless knowledge, a confusing, distracting, dividing knowledge….but knowing God….is a knowing of the heart….of the whole person. It is a knowing that is also seeing, hearing, touching, smelling.
Be still and know that I am God.
That is not meant to be a fearful knowledge….but a peaceful knowledge. God is not a God of the dead, but a god of the living. God is not a revengeful God, but a God of Love. Know that I am God….your God. The God who is only love….the God who touches you with his limitless and unconditional love.
Be still and know that I love you….that I hold you in the palm of my hand….that I have counted the hairs of your head….that you are the apple of my eye….that your name is written in my heart….”Do not be afraid….it is I.”
There is nothing in us that needs to be hidden from God’s love. Our guilt…our shame…out fear…our sins…He wants to see it, touch it, heal it…and make himself known. There is no other God than the Lord of Love.
Be still and know that I am God. God is not in the storm, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in the still, small voice, the gentle breeze, and the sheer silence…
Be still and know that I am God. Take these words with you in the week to come…let them be like a little seed planted in the good soil of your heart and let it grow…
Be still and know that I am God.
Except from Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen.
Sunday. My Honor. Do I let God draw me towards the good?
Monday. Son of God. Is the Lord the portion that fills my soul?
Tuesday. Legacy of Hope. How do I pass on a legacy of hope? By choosing hope.
Wednesday. Good and Bad Times. Are you a fair weather Christian?
Thursday. The Way. Why do we chase the almighty dollar?
Friday. Humility. The secret to success.
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that his secret to success was discovering at a young age that he wasn’t God. In the spiritual life, I can promise myself nothing without the special help of God . . . From one moment to another, I may fall into sin, disconnection from God,, even though I may have labored many years in acquiring virtues, I may in one instant lose all the good I have done, lose all my merit for eternity, and lose even that blessed eternity itself. Humility is the only sure path to salvation, knowing only God is my portion.
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Four. My Portion. Humility.”If the adage is true that “Money Can’t Buy You Love”, why do we chase the almighty dollar? It seems that we work to live and live to work thinking that work will provide us security, comfort, satisfaction, and approval. Taken to the extreme, we can replace work for love or the lack of love in our life. In our confusion, it becomes “the way.”
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Four. My Portion. The Way.”Are you a fair weather Christian? Only willing to sing God’s praise when the times are good?
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Four. My Portion. Good and Bad Times.”Looking at the china my grandma collected with green stamps back in the day signaled hope for my future. At one point I packed away the same china for a potential second home because it didn’t fit my current style. I look at the same china today sitting in my “Peace of Heaven”, a home in the forest where I go to connect with God. Despite the seasons of my tastes around china patterns, this is an example of how we pass on a legacy of hope, by choosing hope.
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Four. My Portion. Legacy of Hope. “With what do I fill my mind and heart? Is the Lord the portion that fills my soul? Do I savor Christ and His teachings, drawn by love to His ways?
Continue reading “Week Thirty-Four. My Portion. Son of God.”
Smitten With Goodness 