Did I keep a smile on my face today?
It is hard to keep smiling when I have a lot on my mind. Between issues with family, friends, work, other activities, finances, and devastating events in the world, it can be hard to keep smiling. I forget, though, the impact of a smile on my face for others and how it can help bring peace and joy to my inner turmoil as well.
Continue reading “Day 9: Spreading Sunshine”Did I lend a hand to help the poor and excluded today?
When I am driving and stop at a red light where there is a man or woman (or sometimes a child) asking for money to help their situation, I often find myself torn between offering them a few dollars or leaving the window rolled up and going on my way. I hear both sides of the debate — am I enabling someone to continue down a path that I don’t think of as good or healthy, or am I simply offering a helping hand to the person in front of me who is in need?
Continue reading “Day 8: Lending A Hand”What am I reading today?
I love to read. Once I learned to read as a child, you could more often than not find me with my nose buried in a book. As I grew older and entered into the working world, I found that I had less time for reading, but have been rediscovering over the past few years the simple pleasure of cracking open a book (or opening a book on my Kindle) and entering a new world.
Continue reading “Day 7: Nourishing My Mind”Did I sit in silence to be with God today?
The world seems so noisy today and it can be hard for me to find times to be quiet and sit in silence to pray. Between work and other obligations, I do make time for prayers and reading the Bible, but often that time becomes filled with me talking to God, rather than focusing on contemplative or centering prayer and listening for God’s voice. I find it hard at times just to sit in the silence and have to fight the urge to do something or say something.
Continue reading “Day 6: Gods Language, Silence”Did I remember to rest in the truth that I am a beloved child of God?
My family enjoyed a blessing in February with the addition of a new family member: a sweet, healthy, happy baby girl! I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet her in person on the day that she was born and to hold her for a time. It is amazing how quickly we love these new babies that come into our lives. Babies are so precious — of course they are easy to love as we look into their sweet faces and hold them close.
Continue reading “Day 5: Being Beloved”Do I remember and honor my dead family and friends?
The past few years have been filled with heartbreaking news — the Covid-19 pandemic, natural disasters, mass shootings, economic hardships, and the war that continues to be waged in Ukraine. The death tolls from each of these events are reported and it is easy to be overwhelmed by the number of people that lost their lives and the impacts of those deaths on their family, friends, and communities.
Continue reading “Day 4: Honoring Those Before Us “Do I take time to enjoy my family and friends?
As the new year begins, I am always excited to open my new calendar and stare at the blank pages, imagining all of the wonderful events and activities that will fill the new year. I start to write down upcoming activities, appointments, and reminders, and suddenly those blank pages are filled and I become overwhelmed with all that I believe I need to accomplish. I look at these filled pages and become tired, before I really begin the new year.
Continue reading “Day 3: Enjoying Life”Do you turn to God in the struggle?
Recently I was in a group of trusted people receiving some feedback. A question I asked to them was how to get through feeling stuck when asked a question during a spiritual direction session. One person invited me to dig a bit deeper around the fear of feeling disappointment in not responding how the directee might expect. Another person suggested I get comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Continue reading “Day 2: Where Do You Turn?”What is God telling you to do?
God‘s presence is in all of creation and speaks to us in more ways that we can imagine. One specific way to become familiar with God’s language is by contemplating scripture, especially the gospels.
Continue reading “Day 1: Listening to God’s Voice”
There are a multitude of ways to approach the Lenten journey but how about this year you accept the invitation to get real with God?
Continue reading “Forty Days of Being”
Smitten With Goodness 