Category: Be Smitten

God always gives us what we need and sometimes that is a good laugh.  

God is always there providing a gentle nudge. He is calling, trying to get your attention through that uncomfortable pain in your soul.  He whispers an invitation out of the pain towards something deeper and truer.  To trust Him.

The Rule of St. Benedict revolves around five practices:  Prayer, Work, Study, Hospitality, and Renewal. Prayer is the foundation to the monastic life and calling, and can be a constant part of the life of non-monastics as well. St. Benedict talks about how our work can be an encounter with the sacred, sanctifying us, providing dignity, and a sense of well-being along with earning a decent wage.

A lot of the spiritual journey is learning to get sober, to wake up to our true nature and get over our soul-sickness.  We can’t do this on our own, despite how hard we try. The only way to do this is to call on the grace of God and invite Him in to accompany us on our journey.  

To be the change we want to see in the world, we must see the value of what is in front of us.  God exists in gift form. If we want his life within, we have to learn to give it away. Think of everything we have received from God:  life, breath, being, powers. Because they come from God, they are meant to become gifts. If we cling to them, they don’t grow and in fact can wither away. 

We have been taught by God to love one another.

1 Thessalonians 4:9-11

These words struck me this morning during my time reflecting on scripture. It doesn’t say we will be taught to love or that we haven’t been taught to love but that we have been taught to love.

Do you live in the light, with each breath finding what is pleasing to the Lord?  As Christians, this is our destiny and how we were meant to live.

Do you taste and see goodness in your life? Take a Georgia peach for example. I recently experienced how a juicy, delicious peach grounded me in God’s goodness where I tasted and saw the goodness of God in the details of the peach. There was such beauty in the small details of those few moments of pursuing joy as the nose and taste buds danced with delight.   God gave me the gift of that moment to experience such joy and overwhelming gratitude.

Sometimes hope can be an elusive thing in our life on this earth. But as I sink into God’s goodness, the protection of hope starts surrounding my heart, holding it together.  

So much of what we do and feel comes from an unconscious level of being. But the soul knows its true identity and longings, just waiting for us to put down our guard where we invite the Spirit to take control.