Month: November 2023

Inspiration

Preparing Our Heart for God’s Goodness 

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

Tomorrow is the first day of December and marks for many the beginning of the Christmas season.  During the hustle and bustle of the season, it is hard to stay grounded in the true meaning of the season. Through the month of December, Smitten with Goodness will invite you to take a few moments each day to prepare your mind and heart to receive the gift of Advent, the birth of Our Lord and Savior.

Preparing Our Heart for God’s Goodness is a 25-day journey to renew your mind and prepare your heart to embrace the beauty of God’s goodness. When we stand in solidarity with our Creator, we unite our thoughts with His and surrender to His beauty and love. 

God loves us so much that He became human, through Christ Jesus, so we can have eternal life. So, we can experience true joy and happiness. To live a full life and bear good fruit.

Through His mercy and compassion, He set us free. 

But we must stand firm, fighting the spiritual battle and not go back to the slavery of ourselves through sin. Our natural tendency is to be drawn to the works of the flesh. We are called to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh. 

When we live in the Spirit, we trust and surrender to love. Love engulfs our hearts and we become who He created us to be. In turn, we bring this love to the world – loving our neighbor as ourselves.

As we prepare our hearts to celebrate the birth of our Savior, commit to taking in the daily scripture, reflection, wise words, and prayer. Reflect on these words of truth throughout your day as you are able.  By rejecting the works of the flesh and living in the Spirit we embrace God’s goodness and the true reason for the season. 

Inspiration

Attitude of Gratitude

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

We all have days where we feel anything but grateful. Days where we stare at the glass half full and it feels like everything is going wrong. 

But gratitude draws us closer to Jesus! Thanksgiving changes things. Gratitude fills our minds with higher, sweeter things so we can’t be occupied by negative thoughts! 

Studies show that thankful people are more empathetic, less aggressive, healthier, and happier. This makes sense because Paul reminds us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 that rejoicing and praising God is actually God’s will for our lives! When we obey Him, we are happier and we are healthier! 

You don’t have to feel happy or have happy circumstances to praise the Lord. If you are in a season of grief or struggle, read Psalm 103 for a giant list of the qualities of God that will never change. He is forgiving, good and redeems us. 

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Psalm 118:1

Thank you, God. for Your goodness. 

Inspiration

Prayer for Peace

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

As we prepare our hearts for Advent, let’s yearn for peace.  Our lamentations will be heard and our prayers help ease the places of suffering from war and violence for which we can pray concretely today: Israel, Palestine, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Mali, Libya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Colombia. Take some time to meditate on this prayer for peace written by Patricia Navas González, published in Alethia.  

Dear Father in heaven,

You created us out of love
and await us behind every event, great and small.
United in Christ with all our brothers and sisters
who are suffering from armed conflict today,
and knowing that we are “wrapped” in the mantle of Mary our Mother,
we stretch out our hands to welcome your peace.

Have mercy on all those who have died
among countless attacks
and on their loved ones, on the wounded,
on those who have killed someone,
and on all the people suffering due to violence.

We pray to you, Almighty God:
stop war and the use of weapons.
Give us your peace.

Grant us the humility to recognize our littleness
and the wisdom to accept your love and your salvation,
which come to us through the cross and atonement.

Disperse the evildoers
who sow violence, lies, and hatred in human hearts.
Send us your Holy Spirit, who awakens pity,
compassion, and forgiveness,
and enables us to unite as brothers and sisters for your glory.

I place myself entirely at your disposal
so that you may use me along with others
to bring peace to the world.
Unite me to You, in what I feel and what I think,
in all that I am.

Accept now my efforts and sacrifices
to empty myself of my selfish interests.
Fill my heart with your love
and make it be expressed in my eyes,
my words, my actions, my life.

May I thus collaborate
in the spread of justice and love.
May I help you to foster reconciliation
and open the world to your eternal riches. 

Amen.

Inspiration, Uncategorized

The Author

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

Situation
upon situation
upon situation,
the ever-changing cycle
of your story,
has been authored by Another,
one of infinite power
unparalleled wisdom
unending grace,
who has every epic
every turn of the plot
every surprising mystery
every unnoticed moment
written into his book.

The Author is never surprised
never taken off guard
never confused by new developments
never feeling unprepared
never just making it through
never looking for a way out.

Situation
upon situation
upon situation,
the ever-changing cycle
of your story,
authored by Another,
the changing saga written
by the One who never changes.

Let go of knowing the future.
Let go of having your own way.
Let go of self-sovereignty.
Let go of the anxiety of not knowing.
Let go of craving more power.
Let go of ranting against mystery.

Settle into what you’ve been designed to be.
Celebrate being included in the gospel plot.
Be thankful you’re not in control.
Remember God’s way is better.
Know that you’re in good hands.

Things out of your control
are not out of control.
There is an Author,
he is not you
his will will be done.

Your story,
that ever-changing cycle
situation upon situation
surprise after surprise
mystery chasing mystery
year piling upon year
has a final chapter,
penned before time began
written on the pages of eternity
and it will be glorious.

By Paul Tripp

Inspiration

Desiring God

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

Grant, O Lord, that we may always revere and love your holy name, for you never deprive of your guidance those you set firm on the foundation of your love.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

Hallowed… Holy. What do I name as holy in my life? 

Jesus, I love You.

Inspiration

New Heart

Smitten With Goodness
Reflection for contemplative living

The saints understood the need for a singular focused heart. Not one formed by the world but one aligned with our creator.

St. Benedict of Nursia says, “You change your life by changing your heart.” St. Therese of Lisieux stated: Jesus, help me to simplify my life by learning what you want me to be, and becoming that person.

As scripture reminds us, we are to be new wine.

No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.  Matthew 9:14-17

Thank you, Lord, for giving me a new heart to fill up with the things you deem worthy. 

Inspiration

Happy Thanksgiving

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

Thanksgiving is the public acknowledgement or celebration of divine goodness. It is the act of giving thanks, a prayer expressing gratitude. It is easy to look beyond our circle of influence and be overwhelmed by the critical and inconsiderate world we see in the media and social media. With grace, we can open our eyes and hearts to the divine goodness in front of us when we slow down and be present in our life.

It is relatively easy to forget about all the good things God has done for us and to neglect giving thanks for our blessings.  Reading Psalm 103 can help foster a spirit of thanksgiving by keeping our eyes focused on the good God has done for us. 

He fills our days with good things. 

Psalm 103:5

Eucharist, from the Greek word “eucharista”, means thanksgiving.  The Catholic Church teaches that “the Eucharist is ‘the source and summit of the Christian life.’” Participation in Holy Communion during Mass, consumed with a humble heart, allows the Spirit to increase in me, decreasing my strong will and self-reliance.  This allows me to fill my heart with His goodness and surrender to Christ as King of my life. 

Sometimes we must jump with both feet into faith and trust.  Other times we need to slow down and appreciate what is in front of us. Expressing gratitude helps us cultivate a thankful heart.  Gratitude turns what we have into enough.

Happy Thanksgiving and for being Smitten With Goodness!

Inspiration

A Grateful Heart

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

We are called to have a grateful heart.  Throughout scripture there are repeated calls to action to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving is to always be a part of our prayers. Some of the most remembered passages on the giving of thanks are the following:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men” (1 Timothy 2:1).

Of all of God’s gifts, the greatest one He has given is the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus paid our sin debt, so a holy and just Judge could forgive us our sins and give us eternal life as a free gift. This gift is available to those who will call on Christ to save them from their sin in simple but sincere faith (John 3:16; Romans 3:19-26; Romans 6:23; Romans 10:13; Ephesians 2:8-10). For this gift of His Son, the gift which meets our greatest need, the Apostle Paul says, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15).

We have a choice. In life there will always be those things that we can complain about but there will also be much to be thankful for. 

May God grant that He may find us grateful every day for all of His gifts, spiritual and material. God is good, and every good gift comes from Him (James 1:17). For those who know Christ, God also works everything together for good, even events we would not necessarily consider good (Romans 8:28-30). 

May He find us with a grateful heart.

Inspiration

A Worthy Virtue

Smitten With Goodness
Reflections for contemplative living

Gratitude is a virtue most worthy of our cultivation. In all the Christian life, gratitude is to be planted, watered, dressed, and harvested. Gratitude gets at the very essence of what it means to be created, finite, fallen, redeemed, and sustained by the God of all grace.

Ingratitude was at the heart of the Fall, and at the heart of what’s fallen about us to this day. “Although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him” (Romans 1:21). Again and again throughout the Old Testament, especially in the Psalms, it is gratitude — giving God thanks — that is the fitting response to his gracious acts of deliverance for his people. 

It was gratitude to the Father that Jesus expressed at that first Maundy Thursday table as he held out the bread and cup to his disciples (Matthew 26:27; Mark 14:23; Luke 22:17–19; 1 Corinthians 11:24). It is profound and enduring gratitude, among other things, that his sacrificial death and triumphant resurrection summon in the born-again heart. In the daily Christian life, it is the genuine giving of thanks for God’s gifts that keeps us from idolatry and sinful asceticism (1 Corinthians 10:30–31; 1 Timothy 4:3–4).

Will you make an intentional effort to slow down, take stock, and express gratitude to the glory of God? Will you count your many blessings including God for his greatest gift — the gift of himself and his Son. 

Thank you, Lord, for your self-giving death for us, and in your resurrected life